


Accidental Mates

by Jdlilith



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2019-12-18 12:19:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 89,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18249710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jdlilith/pseuds/Jdlilith
Summary: Laxus was not raised by a dragon, he had to learn what it meant to be a Dragon-Slayer on his own. So what happens when Laxus finds himself accidentally mated to Cana? Trial and error has taught him everything he knows about being a Dragon-Slayer but is this really the time for trial and error?





	1. How it Began

**Author's Note:**

> This story starts before the events of the manga/show and continue up until the end of the GMG. I will not be changing anything that happens up to the GMG and instead the events of this story will be unfolding in the background. As a result of this there are parts of this story that will be taken nearly exactly from the show with my own input into why things are happening this way.

November X782

It was a rainy day in the town of Magnolia. The streets were quiet as was the Fairy Tail guildhall. Normally a very noisy place full of laughter and fighting; today it was a somber place to be. Today was the day that Fairy Tail was mourning the loss of one of its youngest members, fifteen year old Lisanna Strauss. Any guild member that had been reachable had showed up to support the older Strauss siblings and were now drowning their sorrows while sharing fond memories at the guildhall.

Among the mourners was sixteen year old Cana Alberona. While Cana was not known to be close with any of her guild mates it seemed impossible for anyone to have not been close with Lisanna. Today Cana was sitting on her own near the back of the guild as she drank. Cana had only recently got into the habit of drinking and realized she may have overdone it when she attempted to leave and stumbled into Laxus’ back.

“Watch were you’re going” Laxus snapped but his tone softened when he saw it was Cana. “Where are you going, kid?”

Laxus Dreyar had a unique relationship with Cana. Most of the other orphans that his grandfather had taken in did little more than annoy the shit out of him, Cana was different. Maybe it was the fact they both had deadbeat fathers or that she didn’t cause the trouble that the other kids did, but he had taken a liking to her. He had tried to look out for her over the years but she didn’t make it easy on him.

“I’m going home. This place is such a downer” She was badly slurring her words and could hardly stand. Laxus put an arm around her to help.

“Let me help you. You’re likely to get killed if you go off on your own.” He sighed and helped her walk back to her apartment in Fairy Hills.

There was a rule in place that men were not allowed in Fairy Hills, a rule Laxus just ignored. There wasn’t anything to stop him from entering short of his grandfathers anger, not that he cared about that. He had dragged Evergreen home passed out, either from exhaustion or drink, more than once.

Cana seemed to be getting her feet under her by the time they reached her apartment. She wasn’t leaning so much on Laxus anymore, anyways. He opened the door and helped her get into bed. Laxus had planned on just leaving her there to sleep it off but when he went to leave she grabbed onto his arm.

“Don’t leave, I don’t want to be alone.” Cana tried to pull him onto the bed with her. The look she gave him promised much more than just sleeping.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea.” He held his ground. Laxus knew what Cana was implying, he had thought of it himself from time to time but he knew better then to act on it. He didn’t need to complicate his life by sleeping with another guild member. “I’m sure you would regret it tomorrow.”

“I won’t, I want you to stay.” She got back up and put her arms around his neck. “I want to be with you.”

“I think you’re too young to understand what you’re asking.” He put his hands on her hips, keeping her a safe distance away but not completely pushing her off of him either.

“I’m only a few years younger than you. It’s not like I’m pure.” She reached behind her to untie her top, letting it fall to the floor between them. “I’m not asking for anything more than this. I need comfort, a comfort you can give me.”

She could tell from the look on his face that she was starting to wear him down. His hold loosened and she was able to press herself fully against him, wiggling her hips against his. She could feel that he was much more interested in what she was offering then he was letting on. Feeling his hardness against her caused heat to pool low in her abdomen and she could feel herself growing wet. Laxus closed his eyes, his nostrils flared as he took a deep breath, trying to control himself. She could tell that the battle was almost won.

“Just a little taste. We will both feel so much better after.” She whispered in his ear while one of her hands stroked him over his pants. With a low growl he pushed her onto the bed, she had won.

Laxus was on her in the blink of an eye, his lips crashing into hers. Cana ran her hands down his back then back up under his shirt, pulling it off over his head. Laxus kissed a trail down her neck and over her collarbone working his way to her breast. Cana arched her back, her chest begging for his attention. He palmed one breast, his mouth hovering just over her other, his breaths fluttering over the sensitive nipple.

“Laxus, please.” Cana begged as she wiggled under him. His tongue gave a quick flick over the nub, earning him a gasp from her. When he finally wrapped his lips around the peak she arched off the bed. As his tongue swirled in circles, he mimicked the movement with his fingers on her other breast. He nipped her playfully before switching his attention, hand and mouth trading places.

Cana wiggled herself out of her pants before reaching for his. Laxus grabbed her hands to stop her. He gave her a rough kiss, fully exploring every inch of her mouth. “You do that and I’m not going to be able to hold back.” He told her.

“I don’t want you to hold back. I want you to fuck me.” She freed her hands and pushed his pants and boxers down, using her feet to get them fully off. Her hand wrapped around his hardness, stroking him.

Laxus growled deep in his chest. The noise almost didn’t sound human to Cana and only excited her more. She had never seen Laxus lose control before but there was a wild look to him now, lightening barely contained in his eyes. It made her feel powerful to affect the man in such a way and it made her ache to feel him inside her.

Laxus flipped her over and raised her up onto her knees, spreading her legs so she was open to him. With no warning he thrust himself fully into her heat. Cana cried out his name at the sudden intrusion. She was more than ready for him but without any foreplay she was tight and he wasn’t exactly a small man. He moved at a fast past, thrusting into her hard. He kept her right on the boarder of pleasure and pain that was driving her crazy.

Laxus leaned over Cana and wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her against his chest as he nibbled and sucked a path down her neck. His other hand moved around her hip and between her legs to the spot where their bodies met. His fingers searched around until they found the little bundle of nerves that had her crying out again.

“Fuck, Cana” He gasped against her shoulder as her inner muscles squeezed around him. He brushed his fingers over that same spot and was rewarded with the same wonderful reaction from her body. Cana’s climax caught her by surprise, causing her vision to go white for a moment as waves of ecstasy crashed over her. She felt the rumble in Laxus’ chest as he gave a few more thrust before he found his own release. She felt a sharp pain at the back of her neck and was mildly aware that Laxus had bit her to keep himself quiet.

Cana collapsed into the bed, eyes closed and panting, trying to catch her breath. Laxus held himself supported over her. His world slowly came back into focus. He first noticed that there was trail of blood on her neck from where he had bit her. ‘ _I didn’t bite her that hard, did I?’_ He thought. His hands came into focus next. His nails had grown into claws and his arms had scales covering them.

“Fuck!” He said as he realized he was exposing his Dragon-Slayer side, something that no one in the guild was supposed to know about, not even his team. He got off the bed and rushed to the bathroom, closing the door. Had Cana seen him? Would she even realize what it meant if she had? Laxus looked at himself in the mirror. His teeth had grown into fangs and there was blood on his lips, Cana’s blood.

Laxus jumped when he heard a knock on the door. “Laxus?” Cana asked, she sounded worried.

Fuck, he had just run out on her. She probably thought he was angry or something. He forced his magic under control and watched as his teeth shrank and the scale pattern on his arms faded. He then opened the bathroom door to see Cana standing there with a sheet wrapped around her. She looked vulnerable as she kept her eyes on the floor. “Is something wrong?” She asked him.

He instantly felt protective of her, pulling her into his arms. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“Maybe my ego a little. I thought the girl was the one that was supposed to run away after.” She smiled up at him. “You’re not turning into a girl on me, are you?”

He laughed and kissed the top of her head. “I’m all man.” He picked her up and carried her back to the bed. “Ready for round two?” he asked, using his body to press her into the mattress.

Cana knew she should be sedated after their activity, at least for more than the fifteen minutes it had been, but she felt her body come alive at his words. Her chest grew heavy and her core ached to feel him inside it again. “Bring it.” She said before pulling him into a kiss.

…………………..

Cana woke the next morning in Laxus’ arms. Her head was throbbing but it wasn’t anything unbearable. She pressed a light kiss to Laxus’ chest. He covered his eyes with his arm as he refused to wake up. Their activities had gone late into the night so she couldn’t blame him for being tired but she wanted him to leave before the other girls started waking up.

“You better wake up unless you want to explain why you’re in my bed, naked.” She told him.

“Because I gave you the best night of your life.” He mumbled, giving her a cocky grin while keeping his eyes covered.

“Someone thinks highly of themselves.” She gave him a quick kiss, which succeeded in getting him to open his eye and look at her. “But if you want to stay, fine with me. You get to answer all the questions though. I’m sure the master you love to hear this story.”

He groaned and finally sat up. “You’re not going to get all weird now, are you?”

“Why? Because you gave me the best night of my life?” She joked with him. “Don’t worry, I told you last night I didn’t want anything more then what I got. Well, actually, I got a lot more then I was expecting.”

Laxus chuckled as he got up and started getting dressed. “Good, because it’s not going to happen again.”

Cana was a little disappointed in that, after all it _had_ been the best night of her life. Not that she would ever truly admit that to him. His head was big enough as it was. She was secretly hopping that she could talk him into a repeat in the future. She hadn’t lied about not wanting more. She wasn’t a girl that liked attachment. She didn’t trust people to stay in her life and it hurt a lot less when they left if you didn’t get attached. That being said, she would be crazy to willingly give up sex like this. Every muscle she had ached and she was left with this warm, satisfied feeling everywhere.

Cana got dressed and made sure the hallway was empty before Laxus left. She showered after and went back to the guildhall to see how everyone else was doing.

It was much the same as the night before. It was strange seeing the guild so depressed. It would pass in time but for now everyone seemed to be upset or walking on eggshells afraid of saying something to upset Mira and Elfman. No one had asked them what happened, they figured whatever it was it had to be bad seeing they didn’t bring back a body. Mira seemed scared of her magic now and rumors were starting that her Satan Soul was to blame for Lisanna’s death. Elfman, of course, blamed himself for not being man enough to protect his sister. Cana had almost forgot what had happened that lead to her night with Laxus, which had been the point after all, until she was back in the thick of it.

Cana got a drink and found somewhere away from everyone to sit down. She felt a little guilty for how her night had gone and wanted to be alone. After a few glasses her headache was gone and she was starting to feel better. She didn’t pay attention to what was going on around her and instead was focused on doing some card reading.

“What does the future hold?” Laxus had snuck up behind her. He was not much of a believer in Cana’s card reading abilities and it wasn’t unusual for him to tease her about it. He placed his hand on her shoulder as he looked at the cards spread out on the table.

Cana gasped when his hand made contact with her skin. She felt heat spread out from that spot and pool low in her stomach. She suddenly felt breathless and her heart was racing. Her core was suddenly soaked and achingly empty. She could tell from how Laxus stiffened behind her that he had felt it too.

“The cards aren’t making much sense to me today.” She rubbed her eyes and collected her cards. “Maybe I’m just tired, I didn’t sleep much last night.” There was a pointed tone to her voice that she was sure he wouldn’t miss. She tried to gather her cards up quickly but her hands were fumbling. All she could think about was the man beside her. In all honesty she was impressed in her self-control. Every part of her being was demanding she have him right then and there.

“Maybe they don’t make sense for other reasons.” Laxus sat on the table she was vacating. “And don’t plan on getting any sleep today.” He whispered when she leaned close to him to grab the last of her cards. Laxus could smell her arousal and it was slowly tearing away his restraint. If she didn’t leave soon, he didn’t know what would happen.

A shiver of excitement went down her spine and a throbbing ache that had started in her core increased. She was trying to act as natural as possible as she cleaned up her mess and headed back to her apartment in Fairy Hills. It was the middle of the day and the other girls were already out so the place was empty. Cana had been hoping that Laxus would show up but she was surprised to see him waiting for her. How had he beaten her there? Did she really even care? The answer was no.

Laxus was on her before she even got the door open. She didn’t know why but his every touch felt like fire on her skin. She couldn’t get enough of him and his desperate movements matched her own. He pinned her against her door kissing her roughly as he got her pants and underwear off. Cana didn’t even care that they were still in the hall and anyone could walk around the corner at any moment. If she didn’t have Laxus inside of her in the next five seconds she might combust. She used his shoulders as leverage to lift herself up and wrap her legs around his waist.

Laxus unzipped his pants and pushed them down just enough to free himself. He lined himself up with Cana’s opening and filled her in one quick move, the force of it slamming her against the door at her back. This was even more animalistic than he had been the night before. His whole being was focused on him finding his own release, it didn’t care if she enjoyed it or not. From the noises Cana was making and how she clung to him, he was sure she was enjoying it however. He could feel his magic surging as he got closer to the edge. His claws grew and dug into the soft flesh of Cana’s hips where he held her. He buried his face in the crook of her neck to try and hide his changing features. He breathed her scent in, making him lightheaded as he suckled her skin. He thrust deep into her when he came, biting her hard enough to draw blood again. He heard her cry out his name as her body clenched and spasmed around him in her own climax.

Laxus held Cana against the door as they caught their breath. She slowly lowed her legs to the ground once she was sure she would be able to stand on her own. Laxus fixed his clothes than retrieved her key from where it had fallen on the ground and unlocked the door. He noticed that he still had scales covering his lower arms. He couldn’t seem to get his magic to behave and there was no way Cana did not notice the change.

Neither said anything as they entered the apartment. Cana threw her discarded clothes into a pile and sat on her bed. Laxus went to the bathroom to wet a washcloth. When he came back out his magic was back under his control but he still couldn’t look at Cana. He knelled in front of her and started to wash away the blood that was now starting to run down her chest and between her breasts.

“I’m sorry.” He said when she hissed in pain as he touched the bite mark. You could clearly see where his fangs had punctured her skin.

“Are you going to tell me what the fuck that was?” She asked him, anger in her voice.

“I lost control” he sat down with his back against her bed. He sounded embarrassed and, in truth, he was more than a little angry with himself. He had worked hard to keep the truth about his powers a secret and he had blown it.

“Laxus…” Cana sighed, she was angry at him but it seemed he was beating himself up enough for both of them. “What are you?” She wasn’t sure where the question had come from.

He didn’t say anything for a long time. “You can’t tell anyone about this, please.”

“What am I going to say? Hey guys, I was fucking Laxus in the hallway and he suddenly grew claws and fangs. Look he bit me. It was incredibly hot.” She shook her head. “I’m okay with not explaining that.”

“You thought it was hot?” He asked her with a slight smile.

“I thought the fact it caused me to cum would have been evidence of that.” She returned his smile and he chuckled a little. “Does that happen every time you fuck or am I special?”

“I … Umm … I wouldn’t know” He was embarrassed. “I don’t necessarily have a large pool of women to ask.”

Cana’s jaw dropped. “I’m your first? No way, I can’t believe I’m the first to try and fuck your brains out.”

“You’re not the first to try, hell, Evergreen has tried. I’ve just been more focused on my training then girls. Clearly I still have work to do on control.” He rubbed his hand over his face.

“Are you going to tell me what you are now?” She tried asking him again.

“I’m a Dragon-Slayer.” He told her. “I’m not like Natsu though. I wasn’t raised by a dragon or anything, obviously. My father placed a dragon-slayer lacrima inside me when I was younger.”

“Why would he do that?” She asked. Implanting a lacrima into a living thing was excoriatingly painful. She couldn’t imagine a father putting their child through that.

“I was very weak as a child. If I was going to inherit the guild one day, I had to be stronger.” He could see the sadness in her eyes, the pity. “I wanted the power. I want to earn the right to be guild master. I know everyone thinks I’m going to get it because I’m the old man’s grandson, but I want to earn it. If I can’t be as strong as him then I don’t deserve to be Master.”

“You would put yourself through that kind of pain just to be guild master?” She asked.

“I would do anything for Fairy Tail.” There was a level of honesty to his voice that Cana had never heard before. She reached out and wrapped her arms around him. Her hands brushed his chest where his partly unbuttoned shirt left it exposed. When their skin met the fire they had just put out returned with vengeance. Any conversation they had been having was over as Laxus pounced on her.

…………………..

Cana wasn’t sure what was going on with the two of them but for the next three days they held up in her apartment. Every touch they shared seemed to trigger the same reaction as it had in the guildhall. Cana was starting to feel like she was addicted to Laxus. She began to worry her need for him would drive her crazy, that they would never be truly satisfied. Any thought about his newly exposed abilities was wiped from her mind.

It ended up being probably the three best days of their lives. If they weren’t sleeping or having something small to eat they were screwing. By the end of the three days they had become exceedingly familiar with each other’s bodies. Cana learned that Laxus had enough control over his lighting that he could use it in all sorts of fun ways to stimulate all areas of her body. She also learned that he seemed to enjoy when she would take control and was even excited by light bondage. When she had tied his hands to her headboard he had instantly changed into his Dragon-Slayer mode. She learned this was a good indicator that he was losing control and she loved when she was able to cause it. As the strange desire died down they both seemed to come to their senses.

“This has been a new experience for me.” Cana commented as she lay in bed with Laxus.

“I was starting to wonder if someone cast a spell on us.” He admitted.

“This doesn’t change anything, right?” She sat up and stretched out her sore muscles. “I mean, you’re not going to get weird on me now, are you?”

He laughed as she used his own words against him. “Only if you make it weird.”

“Still saying there won’t be a next time?” she asked as she got his clothes and tossed them at him.

“I’m more open now.” He smiled and got dressed.

“You know where to find me the next time you need to go Dragon-Slayer on someone. I mean, if you’re trying to keep it a secret you might want to learn more control.” She teased him.

He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back against his chest. “Losing control is much more fun.” He kissed one of the many bite marks Cana now had. She moaned and wiggled out of his arms.

“Get out of here, I’m sure your guard is wondering where you have been.” She told him as she headed to the bathroom.

Cana went and started a bath for herself and when she came back he had left. When she made her way back to the guildhall things were back to normal. She had apparently been able to ride out the worse of the depression. She felt a bit bad that she was indulging in time with Laxus while others were mourning but she also couldn’t regret the time they had spent together. She learned that Laxus had left on a mission shortly after he had left her place and Cana decided that she would go on a mission of her own.

Cana liked to take short jobs that kept her close to the guild. She told herself it was because that way she could do multiple a month and save a lot of money up but in truth she liked to be close by incase any news on her father came in. it had been over a year since Gildarts left on his century mission but she still hoped to hear news. She had yet to tell Gildarts that he was her father, but she still worried about him while he was gone. Guess you could say she was attached, not that she would admit that.

It was late in the night, well after midnight, nearly a week later when Cana was woken by a knocking at the door. She tried to ignore it and go back to sleep but the knocking continued after a minute. Cana got up with a groan and went to the door to see who it was. She was surprised to see Laxus was standing there.

“When did you get back?” She asked him, blocking the doorway.

“Just now, can I come in?” Laxus was tired from the day of travel. He had horrible motion sickness and so he and the thunder legion would walk everywhere. He wasn’t sure what had made him decided to go to Cana’s but he felt like he had to be there. There was a force inside of him that said he had to go to her and he had found himself walking to Fairy Hills without even noticing.

“That depends on what you plan on doing.” She gave him a knowing look.

“You.” He grabbed her arm and they were both hit by the sudden overwhelming desire that happened every time they touched now.

This became their strange new relationship. They would go on their own jobs and whenever they were both in Magnolia at the same time Laxus would show up at her apartment. After almost getting caught my Erza, Cana had made a key for him so he could let himself in when he decided to show up. The rush of desire they felt on touching never seemed to diminish if anything it was stronger the longer that they were apart. Laxus was often off on S class missions or higher so it wasn’t unusual for them to be apart for months. Cana would often hook up with other guys but she never slept with the same guy twice; that was something that happened only with Laxus. Things went like this for a few years but Cana did notice a change in Laxus shortly before Lucy joined Fairy Tail.


	2. Phantom Lord

Something was Bothering Laxus. Cana didn’t know what that was but she could tell something was wrong. Even if they were just fuck buddies, after two years with someone you get to know them pretty well. Laxus was tense, easy to anger. He would go on longer, more violent mission that made Cana ache with loneliness.

Laxus would normally stay the night when he was with Cana and they would talk about the jobs they had been on or even gossip about things going on in the guild. Cana had come to look forward to Laxus’ random visits. Things started to change after a few years though. Laxus seemed to get angry easy and didn’t care about what Cana had to say. It seemed that the guild gossip annoyed him. He had always felt he was better than most of the guild but now it felt like he was just looking down on them. Cana noticed this change the most when the battle with Phantom Lord went down.

It was after Phantom Lord had kidnapped Lucy and Fairy Tail had attacked their guildhall. Everyone was back at Fairy Tail, nursing their wounds, and dealing with the aftermath of the destruction Lucy’s father had set into motion. No one could blame Lucy for what happened, Phantom Lord had wanted to go after Fairy Tail since it was formed and Mr. Heartfilia just gave them the excuse that they were looking for. Cana was trying to find Mystogan with no success. Mira had already got a hold of Laxus on the communication lacrima.

“You’re the only one left that we can turn to, help us Laxus.” Mira pleaded with him but Laxus only groaned at them. “We could really use you about now. Fairy Tail is in terrible danger.”

Laxus actually laughed at them. “Man, Makarov is freaking pathetic. I don’t see how this is remotely my problem. You’re big girls so deal with it yourself.”

Cana felt her blood boil. After all this time and he wasn’t even going to give a second thought to helping them? This was the asshole Laxus that he showed to everyone else in the guild. She knew that he cared about the guild, or he use too.

“So you’re not going to help us?” She yelled at him.

“Of course not. Why would I? That senile old toad started this. Why do I have to be the one to clean up his mess?” Laxus asked.

“Please Laxus, Phantom’s trying to kidnap Lucy.” Mira tried pleading to him again. Cana knew that wouldn’t work though, Laxus wasn’t one to respond to begging.

“Who? Do I even know her?” He asked, Cana knew he was faking ignorance. She had told him a lot about Lucy. “Oh, Wait is it that new girl? I’ll tell you what, if you can talk blondie into being my women, I’ll do anything she wants.”

“You’re such a pig!” Cana shouted at him. He already had a women and she was asking him to come help and he still refused. Honestly, she didn’t know why she was even putting up with him anymore.

“Are you sure you want to talk that way to a guy you’re begging to help you?” Laxus was smirking at them. “Do me a favor, if that geezer manages to pull thought this, tell him he is over the hill and he should hand the guild over to me.” He laughed at them and the lacrima exploded.

“I don’t understand how someone in Fairy Tail could be so heartless.” Mira said, mostly to herself.

Cana knew this wasn’t the real Laxus. She didn’t know what was wrong with him but she knew that this wasn’t who he truly was. Laxus loved this guild and he loved the people in it. He also thought people should handle their own problems. Cana figured that, how Laxus saw it, they had started this battle and it was their job to finish it on their own. If he thought he could be master of this guild with an attitude like that, then Makarov was never going to retire. What had happened to the man that swore he would do anything for Fairy Tail?

They didn’t have much time to fume about Laxus’ refusal to help because only a few minutes later Phantom Lord was at their front door. It turned into one of the toughest battles of Cana’s life, during most of which she was cursing Laxus for refusing to come help them. She wasn’t sure how Natsu was managing to save them at the last second every time but he was able to destroy the Jupiter Cannon just before it fired and stop the giant before it could finish its spell. They didn’t fare so well on the ground. The guild was destroyed and there was nothing any of them could do to stop it. While they may have been victorious and master Makarov was planning to rebuild the guildhall many members were licking their wounds that night.

Cana felt the loss of the guild stronger than most. The guild had been her home after her mother had past. While the same could be said for many of the youngest generation in Fairy Tail, Cana was unique in it was the only place she ever saw her father. They hadn’t heard from Gildarts in years and then seeing the guildhall destroyed, it was like losing her father. Cana wanted to just head home and soak for hours in a hot bath, unfortunately someone else had other plans for her.

When Cana walked into her apartment in Fairy Hills she was surprised to see Laxus laying on her bed. Her temper flared in an instant. He had been here, he was in Magnolia and he refused to help them. “What the hell are you doing here!?” She shouted.

“I wanted to see the aftermath of the big battle. I’m surprised you all managed to survive.” He laughed and got up, heading over to her. “You’re not hurt too bad are you? It would ruin my fun if you were.”

Cana wanted to punch him but she knew she was in no shape to fight with him right then, at least not physically fight. “What fun do you think you’re having? I thought you wanted Lucy as your girl?” She pushed her way past him and headed to the bathroom. She was careful to only touch where his shirt covered. She had learned over the last two years that as long as their skin didn’t touch they were safe.

“You’re not mad at me about that, are you?” He followed her into the bathroom. She was setting up her first aid supplies to bandage her wounds.

“No, I’m furious that you refused to help us!” She snapped at him.

“I’m just trying to thin out the weaklings in this guild. That fight had nothing to do with me, I had no reason to help.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

“You are a member of Fairy Tail, just like the rest of us! You want to take over but you’re not even willing to be there when the guild needs you!” She pointed her finger in his face. “The entire town was almost destroyed because you are too high and mighty to help even though you were here the whole time. I just can’t believe that this is the type of person you have become!” Cana’s whole body was shaking with her anger.

“I just got to town ten minutes ago.” Laxus told her, taking most of her anger away. “I wouldn’t have been here in time to help even if I wanted too.” He grabbed her first aid kit. “Let me help clean you up.”

Cana wasn’t sure what to say at that moment. She could see the worry in his eyes and it did a lot to calm her down. She also had to admit that there was no way he could have gotten to the guild in time to help, the entire fight was over in less than an hour after they had contacted him. She knew it was a bad idea but she sat down and let him clean her injuries. They were quiet while he washed and bandaged her. When his hands brushed on her skin she felt the heat fill her body. It was weaker than normal and she was able to control herself but she was still very aware of the need growing in her body.

“Do you really think everyone in the guild should have been killed?” Cana asked quietly.

“I don’t want anyone to be killed. But the guild is weak. We are nothing but a joke to the other guilds. You should hear how they talk about Fairy Tail. It is pathetic. If I was in charge I would but a stop to it. Phantom Lord would never have dared to attack us.” Laxus finished wrapping her injuries and rested his hand on her arm.

“We are more than a guild, we are a family.” Cana got up and went back to her bedroom, sitting on the bed.

Laxus followed her. “I know that’s what the old man wants you all to believe, but it’s just a lie.”

“You use to believe in this guild, what happened to change that?” She asked.

Laxus didn’t say anything in response, he just headed to the door. “I’m glad you weren’t seriously hurt”

Cana grabbed his arm. “Don’t leave. I don’t want to be alone. Not after everything that happened. You came here for something, it’s not like you to leave without getting what you want.”

He had gotten what he wanted. He had come to check on her. He had been worried that she might have been badly hurt, or worse, because of Phantom Lord’s attack. He didn’t know why he cared so much but he had felt compelled to return to Magnolia and make sure Cana was alright. While she wasn’t seriously hurt she had been injured and that angered him. It was fueling his disappointment with the guild, how could they let this happen. He was angry at Lucy the most, she was the reason that this had happened, and Cana had been hurt because Lucy had issues with her father. Laxus had his share of father problems but he never let anyone else get hurt because of it.

“Are you sure you want me? I thought you were mad at me.” He pointed out.

“Angry sex is the best sex.” She smiled at him and had to acknowledge that she wasn’t really mad at him, just disappointed. Laxus seemed to think about it for a few seconds before giving into the desire that had been growing stronger with every touch they shared. He made sure that he went easy on her that night, he didn’t want to hurt her any more then she already was. When he fell asleep with her in his arms he felt content for the first time in months.

Laxus hung around Magnolia while the cleanup was going on but didn’t help out. One of the benefits of staying in town for a few weeks is that he was able to spend multiple nights with Cana, when she wasn’t in the Rune Knight camp being questioned anyways. Once the guild was taking job requests again he was itching to get out of town. This just came to a head when Erza and Mira picked a fight with him for not coming to help fight. It felt like a repeat of his fight with Cana only this time he didn’t care what these women thought of him in the end. He had already picked out a new job so he said his bit and left.

It was a few weeks before the new guildhall was finished and a lot had changed. Not only had they expanded the guildhall but the guild itself had gained two new members, Juvia Lockser and Gajeel Redfox. Everyone seemed to accept Juvia easily. It helped that she didn’t really participate in the battle the same was as Gajeel, also it was clear to everyone that she was in love with Gray. Gajeel on the other hand had a rough start to life in Fairy Tail. This wasn’t helped by the fact that he destroyed the guild, attacked team Shadowgear, took joy in hurting Lucy, or the fact he wasn’t quiet about hating being in the guild. Gajeel was not the friendliest person to ever join the guild and he kept mostly to himself. He had seemed to make a point of avoiding everyone, especially Levi and, for some reason, Cana.

Cana didn’t see much of Laxus for a little while. In the time he was gone she came to the uncomfortable realization that she was pregnant. She wasn’t sure what to do with this situation. She knew from the timing that the baby wasn’t Laxus’ and while part of her was happy about that, she was also saddened. The problem with Laxus not being the father was that meant Cana had no clue who the father was. She had been with a handful of guys before the battle with Phantom Lord, during the time she must have gotten pregnant, but she just picked them up as one night stands. She couldn’t even remember most of their names. Even if she could, she didn’t know who the father would be or if she even wanted them in her life. After much thought Cana had concluded that she would just have to raise the baby on her own. It was her mistake and she would have to live up to it.

It was a week before the Harvest Festival when Cana finally saw Laxus again, and it was not a happy reunion. Laxus was already in a bad mood to begin with. On his way back into town he had heard a lot of people talking crap about Fairy Tail. They took down Phantom Lord without their strongest fighters and yet people were laughing at them. It had pissed Laxus off and he was planning to release some frustration by getting lost in Cana. Unfortunately she wasn’t at her apartment when he got there. When Cana did show up it was late into the night and she reeked.

Cana had headed home after a night out on the town. There were people from all over starting to show up for the festival and she had decided to enjoy herself. She had picked up a wizard from Blue Pegasus tonight. She figured she couldn’t get any more pregnant then she was so there was no harm in sleeping around a little. She got home late in the night with plans to shower and pass out, she was not planning on being face to face with an irate Laxus.

“Who have you been fucking?” He demanded when she walked in. He had a look on his face like someone smeared shit under his nose.

“I don’t think that’s any of your business.” Cana crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t answer to you.”

Her scent had Laxus enraged, and it wasn’t just because of the stench of sex on her. He stormed over to her and grabbed her arm. There was lightning in his eyes and when he touched her skin he felt an almost overwhelming urge to hurt her. It was new and startling but he embraced the feeling, letting it fuel his anger. “You shouldn’t talk back to me like that. Dragons can have nasty tempers and we don’t share well.”

Cana tried to pull away from him. “You’re such an asshole lately. What is your problem?”

“You are, and all your little friends that are disgracing the name of Fairy Tail.” His hold on her tightened so she couldn’t get away. “The old geezer calls you all his children when he banished his own son! You’re not his children, you should mean nothing to him!” The truth behind his anger at Fairy Tail was coming out and he was honestly surprised by his own confession.

“Laxus, let go, you’re hurting me.” Cana tried harder to get free. Laxus’ hand had been encircled by lightning that was burning Cana’s arm and bringing tears to her eyes.

“Why would he be willing to risk his life to protect you weaklings? Why does he tolerate all the shit you losers put the guild through? When I’m in charge you are all gone!” He shove Cana away from him causing her to fall on the floor where she cradled her arm. “Why did I ever waste my time with a whore like you?” he asked himself as he walked out of her apartment, slamming the door behind him.

Cana sat on the floor, holding her hurt arm, crying. What had just happened? She had never seen Laxus lose control of his temper like that. He certainly had never hurt her, or any women for that matter. She had a bad feeling that this was only the beginning for something much worse.

Laxus started to calm down once he was on the street and away from Cana’s scent. He had acted stupid just now. He would be lucky if his whole plan wasn’t ruined now. He had known for a while he had a possessive nature when it came to Cana but he had never felt anger like that at her before. There was more than the scent of another man on her that had set him off. When he touched her he had wanted to hurt her, he had felt that something was wrong. He couldn’t explain how he felt or why but that was how things seemed to go with Cana.

Laxus was still angry the next day when he found Gajeel in the park with team Shadowgear. Picking a fight with him did little to relieve his anger but it was fun to fry the Iron Dragon-Slayer. After that Laxus decide to just by his time and wait for his plan to be set in motion. Soon he would be guild master and he would be able to bring Fairy Tail back to its glory. Nothing was going to get in the way of that, not even Cana.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry i haven't posted in a while. I've had a lot going on in my life and needed time. This is a super short chapter because I wanted to get the events of Phantom Lord out of the way before the huge chapter that will be the Harvest Festival. That chapter will be up soon. I hope you all are enjoying my little behind the scenes of Fairy Tail


	3. Fight Of Fairy Tail

It was a week before the Harvest Festival when Cana finally saw Laxus again, and it was not a happy reunion. Laxus was already in a bad mood to begin with. On his way back into town he had heard a lot of people talking crap about Fairy Tail. They took down Phantom Lord without their strongest fighters and yet people were laughing at them. It had pissed Laxus off and he was planning to release some frustration by getting lost in Cana. Unfortunately she wasn’t at her apartment when he got there. When Cana did show up it was late into the night and she reeked.

Cana had headed home after a night out on the town. There were people from all over starting to show up for the festival and she had decided to enjoy herself. She had picked up a wizard from Blue Pegasus tonight. She figured she couldn’t get any more pregnant then she was so there was no harm in sleeping around a little. She got home late in the night with plans to shower and pass out, she was not planning on being face to face with an irate Laxus.

“Who have you been fucking?” He demanded when she walked in. From the disgusted look on his face she could tell he could smell what she had been up too.

“I don’t think that’s any of your business.” Cana crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t answer to you.”

Her scent had Laxus enraged, and it wasn’t just because of the stench of sex on her. He stormed over to her and grabbed her arm. There was lightning in his eyes and when he touched her skin he felt an almost overwhelming urge to hurt her. It was new and startling but he embraced the feeling, letting it fuel his anger. “You shouldn’t talk back to me like that. Dragons can have nasty tempers and we don’t share well.”

Cana tried to pull away from him. “You’re such an asshole lately. What is your problem?”

“You are, and all your little friends that are disgracing the name of Fairy Tail.” His hold on her tightened so she couldn’t get away. “The old geezer calls you all his children when he banished his own son! You’re not his children, you should mean nothing to him!” The truth behind his anger at Fairy Tail was coming out and he was honestly surprised by his own confession.

“Laxus, let go, you’re hurting me.” Cana tried harder to get free. Laxus’ hand had been encircled by lightning that was burning Cana’s arm and bringing tears to her eyes.

“Why would he be willing to risk his life to protect you weaklings? Why does he tolerate all the shit you losers put the guild through? When I’m in charge you are all gone!” He shove Cana away from him causing her to fall on the floor where she cradled her arm. “Why did I ever waste my time with a whore like you?” he asked himself as he walked out of her apartment, slamming the door behind him.

Cana sat on the floor, holding her hurt arm, crying. What had just happened? She had never seen Laxus lose control of his temper like that. He certainly had never hurt her, or any women for that matter. She had a bad feeling that this was only the beginning for something much worse.

Laxus started to calm down once he was on the street and away from Cana’s scent. He had acted stupid just now. He would be lucky if his whole plan wasn’t ruined now. He had known for a while he had a possessive nature when it came to Cana but he had never felt anger like that at her before. There was more than the scent of another man on her that had set him off. When he touched her he had wanted to hurt her, he had felt that something was wrong. He couldn’t explain how he felt or why but that was how things seemed to go with Cana.

Laxus was still angry the next day when he found Gajeel in the park with team Shadowgear. Picking a fight with him did little to relieve his anger but it was fun to fry the Iron Dragon-Slayer. After that Laxus decide to just by his time and wait for his plan to be set in motion. Soon he would be guild master and he would be able to bring Fairy Tail back to its glory. Nothing was going to get in the way of that, not even Cana.

The Harvest Festival was in full swing a few days later. People from all around had come to Magnolia to enjoy the festivities and watch the Fantasia parade. The Miss Fairy Tail Contest had drawn a large crowed to the new guildhall and everyone was enjoying themselves. At least they were until Evergreen took the stage. She had already surprised the girls backstage and turned them to stone and after doing the same thing to Lucy the guildhall was evacuated. It was time for Laxus to start his game. Seeing Cana as one of his hostages did bother Laxus but he couldn’t let that distract him from his goal. He just reminded himself that if she was a statue than she was safe, as long as everyone played along.

“Well, looks like all your fans decided to head home. Pity, because the party is about to start.” Laxus laughed as he appeared on the stage in front of the remaining guild member.

“I should have known it was you.” Makarov said, watching Laxus closely.

“Come on, let’s have some fun.” Laxus said.

“I’ve had enough of your nonsense. Turn them back or else” Makarov threatened.

“You better play nice if you want these lady’s to join the parade.” Laxus summoned a bolt of lightning that just missed the Lucy statue when Makarov yelled for him to stop. He was happy to see the old man realized the seriousness of the situation he was in. Laxus put his arm around Lucy. “In other words, I’m taking all of them hostage. Break the rules and I’ll shatter these chicks one by one. Or I could just smash them all right now.”

“I’m not amused Laxus, Stop fooling around.” Makarov said.

“I’m serious old man” Laxus looked at the members of his Thunder Legion that had joined him on the stage.

“I’ve always wondered who was the strongest in the guild. Now it’s time to find out.” Freed commented.

“Yeah, let’s have some fun” Bickslow added, his babies echoing “Fun, fun”

“There’s only one rule. Whoever is left standing in the end is the winner. It’s a Fairy Tail battle royale!” Laxus announced. There was more rules, of course. Freed had set traps all over the city and the rules for these were always changing. These fools would learn that in time though.

“Nice and simple. That’s just how I like it. I’m fired up now!” Natsu slammed his fist on the table, ready to take on Laxus.

“Glad you could see it my way. If nothing else, you got the right attitude.” Laxus was amused by Natsu, he once again didn’t understand the gravity of the situation he was in. He listened while Natsu bickered with Warren about if he would be able to win a fight against Laxus. He wasn’t really surprised when the child attacked him. “On the other hand, I think the attitude of yours is going to get you into a world of hurt. Why don’t you sit back down?” He said as he electrocuted Natsu and knocked him out.

After that they explained the rules. There was three hours for them to defeat his Thunder Legion and Laxus himself. If they managed to defeat them then the girls would be freed. They would be battling in all of Magnolia. Makarov wasn’t happy about this idea which Laxus expected. With a bright flash of light for cover the four of them left and went to their designated areas to wait.

It didn’t take long for the guild to learn that they were in over their heads. Freed had enchantments hidden all over the town that forced them to fight each other along with other surprises. Laxus was waiting out the battle in the cathedral. He was nice enough to inform Makarov of how he could end the fighting. All he had to do was hand the guild over.

In less than two hours everyone that had been able to leave the guildhall had been defeated. Laxus knew the guild was pathetic but he had really been hoping for more. He got lucky when, somehow, Erza was able to join the game and Mystogan came back to town. The bad news was Erza was able to defeat Evergreen and release the spell that held the other girls. He now had no hostages.

Meanwhile back at the guildhall, Makarov was explaining to the newly freed girls what had happened to them and during the time they had been in the stone.

“Laxus out did himself this time.” Cana commented more to herself then to the room at large. She had known that something was bothering him for a while now but she didn’t think he would go this far. _Then again, maybe he would_ she thought as her arm ached from where he had hurt her the week before.

“It’s over now. I played along with his foolish game because your lives were in danger, but I won’t indulge him anymore.” Makarov told them.

“Master, we can’t let him get away with hurting out friends.” Mira said quietly.

“Yeah, she’s right.” Bisca added, “If we don’t teach him a lesson then he’ll never learn.”

“Oh don’t worry, I’m going to give that boy a punishment he’ll never forget. He should know better. You can mess with me but you can’t mess with my guild.” Makarov assured them.

_You can’t stop him that easily_ Cana thought to herself as Natsu went off about wanting to continue the fight. Cana could remember the anger she saw in Laxus’ eyes the night he had been at her place. The truth was she was scared to run into him, she didn’t know what he would do.

As they were talking the enchantment on the door turned red and came to life, forming a skull in the middle of the room.

“Don’t tell me he is up to something else.” Cana complained.

“You’re going to have to fight us this time.” Bisca said.

“Can you hear me Old Man?” Laxus voice came from the skull. “The rest of you better listen up too.”

“What do you want?” Natsu demanded.

“Looks like one of the rules has gone out the window. That’s fine. I’ll just add a new one.” He laughed at them “In other words, since I would hate to end the battle of Fairy Tail early, I’ve decided to activate the Thunder Palace.”

“Are you out of your mind, Laxus?” Makarov sounded shocked.

“You have one hour and ten minutes. If you think you can win, you’d better get moving. Unless you’re ready to hand the guild over to me now, Master.” Laxus told them.

“This game has gone on long enough boy! I won’t let you drag innocent people into this!” Makarov shouted before he grabbed his chest and collapsed onto the ground.

Everyone ran to the Masters side to see if he was okay. Mira went upstairs to get his medicine while Natsu was trying to ask him about the Thunder Palace.

“Hey, look outside you guys.” Mira said as she came back from upstairs. Everyone ran up to the balcony to get a better view at what was going on.

Outside there were lightning lacrima floating in the sky in a circle around Magnolia. “Laxus must have done this.” Cana said

“They are floating all over town.” Lucy pointed out.

“They may not look that dangerous, but they’re overflowing with lightning magic. This could get ugly. Let’s just hope he doesn’t set them off.” Cana felt her arm aching again. Would he really do this?

“Could this be the Thunder Palace he was referring to?” Juvia asked.

“Yes, and its surrounding Magnolia.” Cana answered her.

“If those things are full of lightning, what will happen if he activates them?” Lucy wondered.

“Everything will get burnt to a crisp.” Cana was staring at the lacrima. That was something she really hoped would not happen.

“I won’t let that happen.” Bisca said and requiped to her sniper rifle. She took aim at one of the nearby lacrima and shot it, causing it to explode.

“Lucky we got a sniper.” Cana commented as everyone was celebrating.

“Now all I got to do is take out the rest.” Bisca said before there was an explosion that hit her. Everyone was in shock and immediately rushed to check on poor Bisca.

“Why did she get zapped by that thing?” Natsu asked.

“It must be body link magic.” Cana figured, explaining to Lucy what that was when she asked. “It’s a type of spell that’s been cast on the lacrima. If you destroy one of them then the magic energy used in your attack will be reflected back at you. In other words, if we try to get rid of them we will be risking our lives in the process.”

“What should we do? Those things could wipe out the whole town” Levi said.

“We take down Laxus, fast” Cana said, adding in her head _Somehow_

They split up after that. Lucy and Happy went to try and evacuate the town. Levi was going to work on the incantation to see if she could get Natsu and Gajeel into the fight. Mira was looking after Bisca and Makarov. Cana was going to head out with Juvia to find Laxus. Before they could leave however, Gajeel pulled Cana to the side.

“Your boyfriend is giving me one hell of a headache.” He told her.

“Laxus is not my boyfriend.” She informed him.

“You might be having your problems right now, but he is your mate. That makes you responsible for him.” He said. “You best get him under control.”

_Mate? What was he talking about?_ “Look I’m in this mess same as everyone else. I don’t have any control over what Laxus does. But if I can, I’m going to take him down.” She turned and walked away from him.

Meanwhile, Laxus was having a chat with Freed who didn’t agree with this new action he had taken.

“I think you’re taking this too far.” Freed told Laxus.

“Too far, huh? I will decide how far is too far. This is a fight to the bitter end. And that means it won’t be over until one side is wiped out.” Laxus told him.

“We can still win. We don’t need hostages. Stop this.” Freed pleaded, even though he knew it was probably pointless. None of this was sitting well with him.

“What are you still doing here? Shouldn’t you be out there hunting Fairy’s with Bickslow?” Laxus asked. “The old man is counting on Erza, so I’ll take care of her, and Mystogan too. In the meantime you deal with Cana and that phantom girl.” Cana was too much of a weakness for him, he would have to take care of her if he was going to get what he wanted. As for Juvia, they never should have allowed their enemies into the guild. “I don’t need either of them in my Fairy Tail. Exterminate them.” He ordered.

“Even if they are our enemies now we are still in the sam—“ Freed started but was cut off.

“When I give you an order, you better do what I say.” Laxus’ anger was flaring again.

“We’ve chosen our path, haven’t we? There’s no turning back at this point.” Freed sounded as if he had given up. “As you wish, I’ll follow you. No matter where that road may take me. If you want me to exterminate, then so I shall. But their blood’s on your hands.”

A part of Laxus was screaming at him to stop this, to keep Freed from hurting Cana. That part of him didn’t want the guild to be hurt, didn’t want the town to be threatened. He refused to listen to that part. “Like you said, there’s no turning back for us now. It’s time for seizing victory not wallowing in remorse.”

In town Cana and Juvia were trying to find where Laxus might be hiding. “Do you know where he might be hiding? Someplace that’s sentimental to him?” Juvia asked Cana.

“I’ve known Laxus for a long time but he hasn’t been himself lately.” Cana tried to think of anywhere that he might be but in all honestly she was still having a hard time accepting the fact this was Laxus. She knew he could be a jerk at times, she wasn’t blind to his behavior, but this was so far past anything she could think of. She couldn’t believe anyone in their guild would threaten Magnolia, and for such a stupid reason. Laxus was going to get the guild one day, it probably would have been soon with how old the Master was, why did he feel the need to act like this now? And why wouldn’t he come out and fight them? “I can’t believe he is such a coward. Hiding in his corner while everyone else is fighting.” Cana complained.

“Laxus is saving his magic energy. It would be foolish of him to fight Master Makarov at less than full power.” Freed appeared out of thin air and an enchantment appeared around the girls.

“Only the wizard who proves herself to be the strongest will be permitted to leave this barrier.” Cana and Juvia read together.

“The victor will then go on to battle me.” Freed informed them. “You may begin.”

Cana tried to think of everything that Laxus had told her about Freed. She knew he was strong and that Laxus didn’t really care for how particular he was about words. He was also a man of honor, so how did he get dragged into this?

“Come on Freed, if you’re really looking for a fight you don’t have to go through all this trouble because I’ll take you on right now, you hear.” Cana tried provoking him into breaking his enchantment. It was the only way to get out without fighting Juvia. “What’s the matter, are you scared? Don’t think you’re man enough to handle the both of us? You’ve never been much of a real man, have you?”

“The truth of that matter is, I’d prefer not to sully my own hands.” Freed told her.

“You’re such a rat!” She yelled in anger.

“I can’t believe you would make your friends fight like this.” Juvia said.

“Friends you say?” Freed looked at her and there was anger in his eyes. “To be perfectly candid I would rather see Cana emerge the victor. As for Juvia, you still bear the stain of Phantom Lord. You can’t be trusted. There’s no telling when you may choose to take up arms against Fairy Tail again.”

“What, like you are now?!” Cana couldn’t believe how hypocritical he was being. Juvia would never harm them, Cana was sure of it.

To prove just that fact Juvia bounced off the barriers around them until she was able to destroy one of the lacrima in the sky above them. The rebound from the attack knocking her out of the battle, all without having to harm Cana. Freed was going to pay for what he had done, Cana would make sure of it.

The battle that followed with Freed was much tougher then Cana had expected. He wasn’t only powerful but he was fast. He was able to use his Dark Eciture power to block any attack that she lunched at him. There was times when he would simply cut her cards in half, making them useless.

“Why are you doing this?” She asked him. “I thought you were a better person than this.”

“I am simply fallowing Laxus’ orders. He wants you and Juvia exterminated.”

Cana froze in place. “He wants us dead?”

“That was my understanding, yes” Freed did not attack her while she stood there stunned.

Cana shook her head to clear it. This was not the time to be worrying about such things. If she defeated Freed she would be able to confront Laxus about it herself. She launched a lightning attack at Freed that he blocked again.

“Even the most powerful spells are ultimately worthless if they fail to hit your target.” Freed told her, causing her to launch another attack the he reflected back at her with his Dark Ecriture. “Your tough, a true testament to your many years of service to the guild.”

“Listen to me Freed, I want you to take back everything you said about Juvia.” Cana threatened him but before she could attack again her entire body erupted in pain, causing her to black out. Cana woke up in time to hear Mira talk sense in Freed and get him to agree to stop fighting. Lucy had already defeated Bickslow and that meant the only one left was Laxus. They only had six minutes left to take him down.

Laxus was already taking on Mystogan. The other mage was strong but Laxus knew his biggest weakness was his need to keep himself hidden. Gramps had told Laxus all about Mystogan, or rather Jellal’s, past and how he wasn’t from Earthland. When Erza and Natsu finally joined the battle Laxus used it as an opening to exploit Mystogan’s weakness. With a lightning strike he exposed the man’s face.

“Jella? Erza asked, clearly in shock

“What the?” Natsu was as confused as Erza

“But how … You’re still alive?” Erza asked him.

“Oh, so you know this guy.” Laxus smiled. This was a fun turn of events.

“Wait, I don’t get it.” Natsu said. “So Mystogan is really Jellal?”

“Jella, I …” Erza didn’t know what to say to the man before her.

“Erza, please forgive me. I was afraid you would see this. I’m not your friend Jellal. I do know of him … But I’m not him.” Mystogan looked at the tears running down Erza’s face. He was only going to be a liability in the fight to come now. “I’m sorry, I must be going.”

Natsu tried to stop him but Mystogan disappeared into thin air.

Erza was still standing and staring at the spot Mystogan had been. Laxus took the opportunity to attack her. This worked out better than he had hoped. Not only had Mystogan run from the fight but now Erza was too dumbfounded to defend herself. This was going to be way too easy for him.

“That’s enough! I told you, you’re mine you jerk. Let’s go.” Natsu challenged Laxus.

“Hey, didn’t even notice you.” Laxus taunted Natsu. If he wanted a real fight he was going to need the Fire Dragon-Slayer angry with him.

“Oh you’re going to notice me.” Natsu threatened as he light up his fist. “I’ll burn you to a crisp!”

Laxus just laughed as his fight with Natsu started. This kid had nothing on him, never did. He was fast, but not as fast as Laxus’ lightning. The two started trading punches and Laxus was enjoying throwing the kid around until Erza decided to rejoin the fight.

“All right, Laxus, What have you put in the sky?” Erza asked him as she faced him in her purgatory armor. “Tell me, now!”

“What you haven’t heard? That would be my Thunder Palace.”

“You’re absolutely despicable.” She told him. Laxus chose to take that as a complement. “To think you would attack your home town.

Laxus laughed at her. “Honestly. It breaks my heart, but that’s the way the game is played, doll face.” He laughed again. Erza attacked out of anger, trying to kick him but he easily caught her foot. “Only two minutes to go.”

“Go, destroy them now, Natsu.” Erza tried to order him.

“I can’t, okay!” He yelled at her. “If I attack those things, I know they are just going to zap me right back.” It seemed like Natsu wasn’t a complete moron. It looks like he can learn something if pain is involved.

“Seriously, you’re using body link magic to protect them?” Erza asked Laxus

“Yeah, and they are going to stay up there until I give the order for them to blow.” Laxus told her before he electrocuted her again. “It’s a shame you won’t be around to see it.”

Erza requiped into her Lightning Empress armor. It was a good strategy if he was just a lightning mage, but it wouldn’t offer nearly enough protection against his magic. “Now that we are using the same magic, it’s a fair fight.” Erza announced. She attacked him with a bolt of lightning but his body just absorbed it and used it to make him stronger. He launched his own attack back at her and was surprised that she was able to withstand it.

“When two wizards do battle using the same type of magic, many different factors determine the victor.” Erza started to lecture him.

“Their level of magic energy, technique and experience … right?” He had heard this lecture more than once from Makarov growing up.

“One more. Their heart. I know the Master taught you that Laxus.”

“Yeah, he mentioned it. He also taught me power trumps everything else.”

“You couldn’t be more wrong.” Erza was ready to start another lecture but Natsu stopped her.

“Would you knock it off already? I told you I was going to be the one to fight him.”

Something changed in Erza and she came to a decision. She was going to let Natsu fight Laxus while she worked to take down his Thunder Palace. She could try and take them all down but there was nearly three hundred lacrima in the sky over Magnolia. Destroying even one could kill a weaker wizard and Erza thought she could take all of them down at once? She must really have a death wish or something. Even Laxus didn’t think he could take in all that lightning at once.

Laxus didn’t have much time to worry about if she would be able to take down the Thunder Palace or not because his battle with Natsu had officially begun with a Fire Dragon: Roar. He and Natsu appeared to be evenly matched.

“Don’t you see what’s happened to our guild, Natsu? Thanks to the old geezer Fairy Tail’s nothing but a joke now.” Laxus felt his anger taking control of him again. His lightning covered his body as it lashed out at anything nearby. “All I’m trying to do is make things right. When I become Master, our name will strike fear into people’s hearts.” He struck Natsu and threw him into a wall before he landed on the ground at Laxus’ feet.

Time was running out now. There was only a minute and a half left now. Laxus was getting worried. He thought Makarov would have given in by now. Was the old man really going to let the town be destroyed? Did Laxus think he could really destroy the town? It didn’t really matter right then, he couldn’t stop it now if he wanted it. Laxus found a part of himself hoping that Erza was somehow able to stop the Thunder Palace. “Are you really going to let all those people die?”

“It’s over. You know as well as I do that’s not going to happen. You can blow up the town, but you still aren’t getting Fairy Tail.” Natsu told him. “You’re just upset that you can’t back out of it now.”

How did Natsu know what Laxus was thinking? Was he that easy to read? No, Natsu was just wishing that Laxus was the good person he thought he was. He had never believed that Laxus was serious about this whole battle.

“The town will be fine. Erza is taking your spell down. It’s not so easy sticking to your guns, is it Laxus?” Natsu charged at him

“Shut up! What the hell do you know?” Laxus shouted as he launched a counter attack. Natsu’s ability to read Laxus had only served to anger the man further. He refused to back down until he had Fairy Tail. Fighting Natsu was kind of fun. Laxus was enjoying beating the cocky Dragon-Slayer.

Outside the whole of Fairy Tail was having mental arguments with the help of Warren’s telepathy. They were supposed to be working to destroy the Thunder Palace but were instead fighting with each other. It took a scolding from Lucy before everyone could put aside their differences and work together to take down the lacrima that threatened the town. Cana didn’t think twice about helping to take down the lacrima and help save the town. She knew that they would attack back thanks to the body link magic but it was a small price to pay to save the town. Cana had completely forgotten that she was pregnant.

“You see? I told you it wouldn’t work.” Natsu said as they could hear the screams of their guild mates as the body link magic did its job. “Weren’t you saying something about out guild needing to change? That’s funny. I don’t see anything that needs changing. It looks like everyone is getting along just fine to me. How do you expect to become our Master if you can’t get along with the rest of us?”

Natsu trying to lecture Laxus was something he was not going to tolerate. He felt his rage consume him in an explosion of lightning around him. “I’ll take Fairy Tail by force if I have to! Watch me! It’s mine!” Laxus yelled. His anger fueled his power to the point Natsu couldn’t even touch him. He started to take down the pink haired pain in the ass. His lightning attacks paralyzed Natsu and he was ready to fry him when Gajeel got into the way.

Laxus listened as the two Dragon-Slayers before him discussed how to take him down. “This guy’s not messing around. He is a real monster.” Laxus heard Gajeel say. “You can tell he had Makarov’s blood running through him.”

If there was anything that could piss Laxus off any more it was comparing him to Makarov. Laxus didn’t even feel like himself anymore. There was a dark power inside of him and that darkness had taken complete control over him now. It was a freeing feeling. He didn’t care about anything anymore. His guilt over what he was doing was gone now. When they both attacked him, Laxus was ready. He easily blocked their attacks at first until Natsu was able to sneak behind him. The two teamed up to hit him with a joint breath attack.

“Don’t tell me that’s the best the two of you can do. Neither of you deserve the title of Dragon-Slayer.” Laxus wasn’t even phased by their attack.

“What the heck, he doesn’t even have a scratch on him.” Natsu said.

“But how? I don’t get it. I know he’s strong and all but we whipped out a ton of Dragon-Slaying magic on him. How is he still standing?” Gajeel asked.

“I’ll let you guys in on a little secret, I haven’t told anyone about this, because I really hate the old man’s lectures, but I guess I can trust the two of you.” Laxus let go of his full power and transformed into his Dragon-Slayer form. Natsu was totally surprised that Laxus was a Dragon-Slayer. Gajeel seemed more scared of his power then surprised about Laxus’ Dragon-Slayer status.

Laxus launched a Lightning Dragon: Roar at the pair, paralyzing the two of them. He was surprised that the two managed to survive his attack. “You’re still alive? Damn, I was sure that would finish you off. Why won’t you just kick the bucket already? You two losers, Erza and Mystogan, the old geezer, the weaklings in Fairy Tail, and the pathetic people of Magnolia, your time is over now!” Laxus shouted as he gather energy to cast the Fairy Law spell. He heard Natsu, and Gajeel yell at him to stop. Levy even showed up and tried to stop him. He could hear her yelling at him but nothing got through to him at first,

“Your grandfather, he is close to death!” Levy yelled at him.

_Grandfather? He’s dying?_ That helped Laxus to break the hold the darkness had on him. _What am I doing? I’m killing the old man._ But he had already started to cast the Fairy Law spell and to stop now could kill him. He didn’t have a choice but to finish the spell.

“Stop now, so you can see him one last time.” Levy shouted at him.

_Why does she care if I see him? I doubt he wants to see me. Why would she care after everything I’ve done?_ He thought but then the darkness crept back in. _If he dies, it will make taking over the guild even easier_ The darkness told him.

“This is working out perfectly for me. Now that the old man is at death’s door I have an even better chance of becoming Fairy Tail’s new Master.” Laxus heard the words come out of his mouth but they weren’t his words. It was that dark part of him talking.

“This will be the dawn of a new era for Fairy Tail. I’ll rebuild everything from the ground up. I’ll form the ultimate guild. One so powerful, all will tremble at our name.” Laxus said before casting the Fairy Law spell.

A blinding light filled the cathedral and spread through the whole town. When the light faded it showed that no one had been harmed. Everyone was still where they had been before he cast the spell.

“I hit them with so much magic energy …” Laxus looked at his hands. He was back to his normal appearance. It had nearly depleted his magic power to cast that spell and it had failed.

“The other guild member and the citizens of Magnolia remain unharmed.” Freed had made an appearance. “It looks like your spell didn’t work. Not a single person was killed.”

“But that’s impossible, I cast the Fairy Law spell perfectly.”

“Maybe so, but your true feelings have betrayed you. You’ve inherited more than strength from your grandfather. Deep down, you also have the Masters heart. Whether you’d admit it or not, it’s evident you care for your comrades. The Fairy Law spell only affects those the caster sees as their enemy. Since no one was hurt we know how you truly feel.” Freed exposed the flaw in Laxus’ attack.

“His magic could see into his heart and that’s why we are still here.” Levy said behind Laxus.

“You can try to hide your true feeling, Laxus, but your magic will always reveal the truth within your heart.” Freed added.

The spell must have been able to sense the good that was still inside him. That was the reason he hadn’t been able to harm anyone. Deep down inside, he knew that Fairy Tail wasn’t his enemy. He was doing all of this for Fairy Tail, how could they be his enemy? “No, that’s ridiculous. The truth is that anyone who would dare stand in my way is my enemy!” His dark side was talking again and it couldn’t believe that he had failed.

“This has gone on long enough. You need to go see the Master before he’s gone.” Freed tried to reason with Laxus.

“Let the old man die for all I care. He’s nothing to me. He may be family, but I’m stronger!” He didn’t even sound like himself anymore. The darkness took over again and he changed back to his Dragon-Slayer form with an explosion of power.

“Who do you think you are? You’re not stronger the Gramps. You couldn’t even pull off Fairy Law. You may be his grandson, but you’re no better than the rest of us. Don’t you know, blood ties don’t matter? Because everyone in the guild is supposed to be considered family.” Natsu was lecturing him again as he got fired up for the battle.

“That’s just a lie. Blood ties do matter.” Laxus was talking to himself more than Natsu. He had always been Makarov’s grandson, that blood tie was all anyone ever saw of him.

“You’ve been a member long enough to know better than that. If you think that makes you above everyone else in the guild you’re wrong!” Natsu yelled at him as he attacked.

Their fight took to the sky over the cathedral. They came crashing down on the roof but no matter what Laxus did, Natsu would not stay down. “Why won’t you just die?”

“Why won’t you just give up the fight? The guild doesn’t belong to you. It never will!” Natsu told him while sprawled out on the cathedral roof.

“Lightning Dragon: Demolition Fist!” Laxus attack should put an end to Natsu but the damn kid refused to stay down. “That was your last mistake kid. Now I’m going to obliterate you!”

Laxus laughed as he launched his most powerful attack at Natsu. His Lightning Dragon: Hevenward Halberd. At the last second his attack was redirected by Gajeel’s metal arm. The Iron Dragon-Slayer had used himself as a lightning rod to protect Natsu. It was the opening he needed to attack Laxus with a series of powerful Fire Dragon secret arts. The onslaught was enough to knock Laxus out.

Following the battle Laxus knew he had to face the music and see his grandfather. He didn’t know what had happened at the end of the battle but when he came to he felt like a different person. The darkness that had been covering his heart was gone for now. Natsu’s words and his fist had done a great deal to knock some sense into Laxus. He knew that Makarov was going to have him banished from the guild and he was alright with that. He wanted to make things up to the guild but he knew that the guild wasn’t ready for that.

Makarov lectured him on Fairy Tail. That is was a place for friends to gather and children with no home to find one. It wasn’t just a place for wizards to find work, it was a family. Laxus had known this once but had somehow lost sight of that. The darkness that had controlled him had been a part of him for so long he didn’t even know how he was going to live without it. He knew he had to leave Magnolia, he had to go find who he was. No matter where that path might lead him, even though he was no longer a member of Fairy Tail, he would carry them with him. Fairy Tail would be his home, always.


	4. Consequences

Laxus waited until after the Fantasia parade to say his goodbyes to Cana. He had already made peace with is team and his grandfather, Cana was the only person left that he felt he had to talk with before leaving. He went to Fairy Hills after the parade and waited around a few hours to make sure all the girls were settled for the night before letting himself into Cana’s apartment.

He had expected Cana to be asleep at this late hour but her bed was empty. He could hear that the shower was running and figured that must be where she was. He could still smell the same scent she had the week before. He could feel himself getting angry for no reason, just because she didn’t smell right. He could also smell the scent of fresh blood, Cana hadn’t been injured during the parade so he didn’t know where the smell was coming from. He let himself into the bathroom to make sure she hadn’t somehow been hurt on her way home. The smell of blood was even stronger in the bathroom. Cana was in the shower, curled up on the floor, letting the water run over her while she cried.

Laxus went to her side and turned off the water, it had long since gone cold. He knelt on the ground beside her and pulled her into his arms. He had been expecting her to push him away or even attack him, he deserved it after all, but she clung to his shirt instead. When he rubbed her back in an attempt to comfort her he felt the urge to hurt her again. It was like his last visit all over again. He felt his magic trying to come out, the darkness that had controlled him the day before was waking up. He pushed it all down, this was Cana, and she wasn’t his enemy. He didn’t want to hurt her again.

He couldn’t see and injuries on her but he could still smell the scent of fresh blood, there was also a pool of bloody water on the ground where she had been sitting. It took him longer than it should have to realize where she was bleeding from and that only served to confuse him more. This wasn’t blood from her monthly flow, he knew that scent, and it was a sour smell. This was clearly the iron scent of fresh blood. She was clearly in no state to answer questions so he simply let her cry into his chest. The only sound that filled the room was her sobs. After what felt like an eternity she calmed down enough that Laxus felt safe to talk.

“What happened? Did someone hurt you? I’ll kill whoever it was.” Laxus asked her. While she had been crying he came to a conclusion that some guy must have assaulted her on her way home. It was the only thing he could think of that would explain her bleeding from such an intimate spot.

Cana looked up at him as if she just noticed he was there. She had a look of confusion that quickly turned to anger as she pushed herself away from him. “You did this!” She shouted at him.

“I didn’t do anything, you were already bleeding when I got here.” He tried to defend himself.

“This is a result of your stupid battle!” she wrapped her arms around her stomach, her anger turning back into tears.

Laxus instantly felt guilty and he didn’t even know what had happened. “Cana, what’s wrong, talk to me.” He was trying to stay calm.

“I was pregnant” she spit the words out like venom.

Laxus felt his heart stop, he couldn’t breathe. She is pregnant? That was why her scent had changed. He should have figured that out sooner. People don’t just change their scent for no reason. “We’re having a baby?” he asked in disbelief.

“No, I _was_ having a baby. It’s … gone” The last word caught in her throat. “It didn’t survive the fight.”

“I … I didn’t know.” He could hardly believe what was happening. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because it wasn’t yours. You were already pissed I was sleeping with another guy, I was terrified of what you would do if you knew I was someone else’s baby.” Cana couldn’t figure out is she was angry with him or upset at the loss of a baby she wasn’t even sure she had wanted.

It took a full thirty seconds before those words sank into Laxus’ mind. Before he even fully processed what Cana had said he had grabbed her and pinned her to the ground by her throat. One of his hands was holding her wrist over her head, the other was wrapped around her neck. The darkness that was back to the surface even as he tried to fight it back. He didn’t want to hurt Cana but her words angered him to a point he could hardly control himself. His fingers wrapped around her neck, his fingertips brushed against the lightning mark that he had giving her their first night together.

Cana gasped when he touched that mark. There had been times over the years when he had touched that same spot but it was always while they were having sex and she had never noticed anything different about it at that time. This time was different. When he touched the mark she was overwhelmed by emotion. She could feel the conflict inside of Laxus. He was angry and hurt and jealous at the idea of her with another man. He was feeling happy that she was no longer having the child but also felt guilty over both that feeling and having hurt her. She could feel the battle that was happening and she could feel the darkness that was winning. She was scared of him at that moment but tried to talk to him.

“Laxus, I didn’t want this to happen. I’m sorry.” She tried to get her hands free but he wouldn’t let her. “I would rather have your child.” She told him. She felt that this changed his feelings. He was shocked by her words but he liked the idea. It was enough for him to fight the darkness and he let her go. Cana moved out from under him quickly.

“What’s wrong with me?” Laxus said to himself as he sat back against the wall.

Cana rubbed the back of her neck where the mysterious mark was. She wasn’t sure what had just happened but she needed to worry about it later. “Do you want to talk about what’s happening? Why did you attack the guild?”

He sighed “I thought I was doing the right thing. I wanted to make the guild stronger.”

“Having Freed kill me would make the guild stronger?” Cana asked.

Laxus flinched like she had slapped him. “I didn’t want my feel– I didn’t want you to stop me. When I saw you in stone I …” He placed his face in his hands. “I have to stop making excuses for what I did.”

“You really thought you were helping the guild? Because I know that’s a lie.” Cana finally got up and wrapped a towel around herself. “If you were really trying to help the guild you never would have dragged the whole town into it. You can try to lie to me, but don’t try to fool yourself. At the end of the day you turned out just like your father. He wanted nothing more than power and planned on using the guild to get that power. You’re just as big an asshole as he was.”

Laxus was quiet again. Was she right? What was the real reason he had got so far yesterday? Was he trying to help the guild or was he just after power? Was there another reason? He thought about the fight he had with Makarov when his father had been banished. “I wanted to prove I was better than them.” He said quietly.

“Who?” Cana asked, coming over to his side.

“Gramps, my old man, Erza, Everyone. I want to be the best. I want people to respect me for my own power and not because of my bloodline. I just want to be seen for who I really am.”

Cana’s heart ached for him. She had seen what he was talking about with her own eyes. Any time he had done something extraordinary people would always comment that it was because he was Makarov’s grandson. Cana put her arm around him and held him. She didn’t say anything, just let him talk.

“Growing up I had tried so hard to get out of the old geezers shadow but it was never enough. Even my old man didn’t think I was good enough so he implanted the Dragon-slayer lacrima inside me to make me stronger. I wanted to show everyone what I was capable of. I wanted them to see me and not Makarov’s grandson”

“I don’t think of you as just Makarov’s grandson” Cana told him. “There are plenty of people in the guild that don’t see you that way, you just can’t see it.”

Laxus didn’t know what to say after all that.

“You have this dark thing inside you.” Cana said, “I felt it, but that doesn’t mean that you have to let it control you. I know that it’s not easy and I feel like I’m making it harder on you. I wish you could see the person you were before all this. He was a man people would respect. He was a man I could love” The last part was spoken in barely a whisper but she knew he heard it because his body tensed up.

“You should get to bed. You need your rest.” He told her.

Cana got ready for bed in silence. When Laxus tried to leave she grabbed his hand. It was déjà vu all over again. “You’re leaving?”

“I need to find my own path. I know I can never make up for what I’ve done to you, but I hope one day you can forgive me.” He told her. “Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll be able to find the man I use to be.”

Cana kissed his cheek. “You’ll have to come back one day if you want me to forgive you.”

Laxus didn’t say anything more as he left. He wanted to stay with her but if he did then he would never leave. After he left Cana broke down in tears again. No matter how hard she had tried to keep him at a distance she had done the one thing she swore she would never do. She had become attached to Laxus Dreyar.

Cana didn’t head to the guildhall for a few days. She mostly just stayed in her apartment trying to figure out what had happened with her and Laxus. She decided that, while still upsetting, losing the baby was probably for the best. She wasn’t in any position to take care of a child and she truly didn’t want to have a strange man’s child. What she had told Laxus was true though, she would have rather had his baby. It was likely that she had feelings for the man for years but now that she was aware of them it was scary. It didn’t help matters that Laxus was clearly going through his own shit right now and she couldn’t help him.

It was late into the afternoon when Cana finally went to the guildhall. She got her normal beer and went to find a place to sit where she could be alone. Things in the guild seemed to have returned to normal. Everyone was getting along and all the fighting was forgotten. Even the Thunder Legion seemed to have been forgiven. It was almost as if Laxus was just gone on a mission alone and would come back any day.

“Hey, Cana?” She heard Gajeel’s rough voice call out to her. She looked up to see the man standing next to her. “Look I figure this has got to be hard on you. If you need to talk or... I don’t know …” He rubbed the back of his head, he was clearly uncomfortable.

“How did you know about us?” She asked him.

“I could smell it on you.” His eyes went to her stomach. “Nothing gets past my nose.”

She put a hand over her stomach before finishing her drink. “That’s not a thing anymore.”

“I’m sorry.” He told her and she believed him.

“Is that why you avoid me? Because of my relationship?”

“I was told not to mess with another guy’s mate.” He shrugged.

“You keep using that word. What does that mean?” She asked him.

“That’s not really my place to tell. You’ll have to ask him about it.” Gajeel gave her an awkward pat on the shoulder before leaving her to drink alone.

Over the next two months things are a little crazy around the guild. Fairy Tail joins a team to take down the Oración Seis. In the process Team Natsu somehow managed to not only defeat the Oración Seis but also capture Jellal, the most wanted wizard after Zaref. They also gained two more new members from it, Wendy Marvell who was a Sky Dragon-Slayer and her cat friend Carla. Shortly after that Gildarts returned to the guild in, more or less, one peace. Cana had mixed feeling about having her father home. She was happy he was alive but she still didn’t feel like she was going to be able to tell him the truth.

On the anniversary of Lisanna’s death the entire town was transported to Edolas and turned into a giant lacrima. The truth about Mystogan and the Exceeds comes out. Cana wished she could say that was the craziest thing to ever happen to her but honestly it wasn’t even close. When they were all returned to Earthland they were not alone. The Exceeds were transported with them and Gajeel got himself a feline friend, Panther Lily. Lisanna was also transported to Earthland and they learned that she had not actually died two years ago but had been transported to Edolas.

Cana almost didn’t believe it had been nearly two months since the Fight of Fairy Tail. Two months since she lost her baby. Two months since she had started an awkward friendship with Gajeel. Two months since she had last had sex. Two months since she had last seen Laxus. She thought about him almost every day.

The S-Class Promotion Trial was coming up and Cana was feeling more depressed then she had in the years before. She had already competed in four other trials and lost each. Erza, Mira, and Mystogan had all been able to finish and she had yet to even come close. She had thought she would have been S-Class before Gildarts had returned but she was still a failure. If she didn’t win this year she was going to quit the guild. She meant it this time. Clearly she had gone as far as she could in Fairy Tail and maybe it was time she moved on. She could go and find Laxus, maybe they could help each other.

Cana was not surprised that she was chosen for the Promotion Trial again this year. She went to Lucy’s house because she needed someone to talk too. Lucy was one of the few people in the guild Cana was really close with. When she told Lucy about Gildarts being her father and how she didn’t feel good enough to tell him the truth, Lucy swore to help her get to S-Class. She was touched by her friend’s loyalty and willingness to help but Cana wasn’t even sure she wanted to be an S-Class wizard anymore. She knew this was all because she was missing Laxus but what she didn’t know was just how soon she would be seeing him again and how much he has


	5. S-Class Trials

It had been two months since Laxus had left Fairy Tail. He had spent most of the first week coming to terms with everything that he had done. Looking back he couldn't understand how he had ever convinced himself, let alone his friends, that he was doing the right thing. He had almost killed so many people, including his grandfather, because he had an inferiority complex. It took a lot longer than he would care to admit for him to accept that being Makarov's grandson was a part of him that wouldn't go away.

It took him a while after that to be able to identify the darkness that was inside of him. It was true that the anger and obsessive need to be better belonged to Laxus, he had never wanted to seriously hurt or kill people on his own. That feeling had come from something else inside him. Cana had even said she had felt it, however that was possible. The more the Laxus thought about it the more confused he was until one day he figured out the answer. It had to be part of his Dragon-Slayer magic. Every time the darkness had taken control he had felt his magic surge and his Dragon-Slayer appearance would come out. He didn't understand how that could be, but he didn't understand much about his Dragon-Slayer magic.

Laxus had been a young child when he had the Dragon-Slayer lacrima implanted in him. Back then no one even knew that true Dragon-Slayers even existed still. There was always stories about wizards strong enough to kill dragons but no one knew they truly excited. When Ivan had found the lacrima, Laxus had been excited about the idea of being a legend like his grandfather. It wasn't until after that they learned about the side effects of Dragon-Slayer magic. The enhanced abilities were quickly obvious but the secrets of the lost art remained unknown to them.

It was several years before Natsu came to join the guild. In that time Laxus had learned to master Lightening Magic and had adjusted to his enhanced hearing and smell. It wasn't until he saw Natsu eating fire that he even realized he was able to absorb lightening. He learned a lot about himself in the first year of Natsu joining the guild and he was able to achieve S-Class rank the next year. Laxus had a feeling that Natsu never had to deal with his magic having a mind of its own though. Natsu didn't have enough of a mind for his magic to control. This was something Laxus was going to have to figure out himself, like everything else.

The next month was full of Laxus trying to figure out how to control this force, he had started referring to it as his inner dragon. This was done mostly through meditation, something he had never been a huge fan of. It seemed his inner dragon didn't care for meditation either as it was being quiet. The only thing that seemed to bring it out was when he would let his mind wonder to thoughts of Cana. It was getting close to the end of the year and S-Class trials would be happening soon. He found himself wondering how she was doing and if she was alright. He was worried about the old geezer too, he had been very ill when Laxus had left.

It was during one of these moments, when his mind had wondered to thoughts of the guild, that he got a bad feeling. Laxus couldn't explain what the feeling was but he knew something was wrong with the old man, he may even be dying. Laxus used his lightning magic to get him back to Fairy Tail quickly. Once there he learned that Makarov was holding the S-Class trials already and wouldn't be back for a few days. While no one would tell Laxus where the trial was being held, he knew it would be on Tenrou Island and he knew how to get there.

On Tenrou Island the S-Class trials were being placed on hold as Grimoire Heart was attacking. No one understood how they had found the island but that was something they would have to figure out later. They had all been separated when the assault started and were severely outnumbered. Not to mention the fact that somewhere on the island Zeref was hiding.

Natsu had taken on a fight with Zancrow, a Fire God-Slayer, and won but only after taking heavy injuries. Makarov had gone against Hades and was also badly injured. Lisanna and Mira had fought against Azuma, who used the lost magic Great Tree Arc, and lost. Elfman and Evergreen had fought against Rustyrose, and his Arc of Embodiment, losing their battle as well. Cana and Lucy had run into Loke and Gray, who had been following them, and ended up in a battle against Caprico. With Loke's insistence, they leave him to fight Caprico and the three other wizards go in search of the other members of the Seven Kin of Purgatory. Shortly after they left Lucy's keys glowed, apparently it was Loke telling her that he won.

"I knew he could do it." Cana said, even though she had been a little worried.

"He says he doesn't want to go into all the details right now but apparently Capricorn switched over to our side." Lucy was smiling with obvious pride in her friend and spirit. "Also, he says the fight really took it out of him. So he is going to try and recover his strength by going back to the Celestial World." She gave Gray an apologetic look while holding up Loke's key like it would protect her.

"What?" Gray asked in shock.

"It makes sense. I mean, he has been using his magic power to stay in the human world all this time." Cana tried to defend Loke.

"But that ain't fair at all!" Gray complained. "He promised he would be my partner, now he is backing out on me!"

"He says to tell you he will make it up to you later." Lucy was trying to look innocent in this.

"What? Forget him! You tell that four-eyed fink I don't need his help to make S-Class" Gray told Lucy.

Cana had forgotten all about the S-Class trial up until that point. With all the fighting it had slipped her mind but now it was back in full focus. She had to finish the trial and become an S-Class wizard.

"Okay, let's get moving you guys." Lucy said and was getting ready to continue down the path they were on.

"Hold on, I have an idea." Cana said, stopping her and Gray. "Well if we want to find the other six creeps it might be easier if we split up."

"You think?" Gray asked, sounding disbelieving.

"Are you crazy? I don't want to risk running into one of them when I'm all by myself." Lucy was shaking in fear.

Cana hugged Lucy tight. She wasn't going to let Lucy go off on her own until she knew where the grave was. "Oh don't worry! I'll be there to protect you, Lucy."

"But I thought we were …" Lucy started but Gray cut her off.

"I see, so when you said 'Let's split up' you really meant let's ditch Gray?" He said.

"You're jealous," Cana had moved behind Lucy. She reached around to grab Lucy's chest. "You just want to see us compare cup sizes, don't you?"

Cana knew that would make Gray uncomfortable and her plan had works. "That's not true and you know it, jeez." Gray brushed his embarrassment aside. "I just don't think splitting up is a good idea because we are a lot stronger together than we are on our own."

Cana sighed, she was just going to have to be honest with him. "Listen, Gray, the only reason I suggested we split up to search for the enemy is because I wasn't to get back to the S-Class Trials. In order to do that we have to wipe them out. Bet I know why you're so against it, you're scared."

"Fine, Have it your way." Gray said, he was clearly hurt by her words. "Let's go ahead and split up here." He didn't wait for a response before he started to walk away.

Lucy and Cana started to head out the other way. Cana needed to find out where the first Master's grave was. She remembered Lucy telling her earlier that she had figured out where it was, "Hey, Lucy, I wanted to ask you about Mavis' grave."

"Mavis' grave?" Lucy parroted her.

"Yeah, You said you figured out where it is, right? I was going to ask you about it earlier but then all the crazy stuff started happening." Cana tried to keep her voice sounding casual.

"Sure, I'll tell you. But I got to warn you, I could be totally wrong. There was a lot of guess work involved." Lucy told her. She had stopped walking to explain her idea. "First of all I decided to think up a list of words that might somehow be connected to the word 'grave'. Death, to sleep, the earth, a stone, a star, maybe end? Sadly no single word was six letters long."

Cana was already confused. "Wait, I don't get it. Where did you get the idea that there needed to be six letters in the word?"

"From the time limit, silly. We were supposed to find the grave in six hours. I figured that number had to be important." Lucy knelt down and started to write something in the dirt with a stick. "Now I know it's a bit of a stretch but I thought of a word that not only has six letters but also relaters to the words 'grave' and 'time'. Demise. Essentially it means to end. It's associated with death, and therefore graves, meets the letter requirement, and has a time element to it." She showed Cana where she had written out the word 'Demise' on the ground. "Okay, now here's where things get iffy. This is just a hunch, but when you look at the word 'demise' there's one letter that's different from the others. Want to guess?"

Cana was even more confused. How did Lucy think of all this stuff? "Umm, I don't know."

"There's one letter that's used twice, 'E', doesn't that seem kind of suspicious to you?" Lucy pointed this out like it was the most obvious thing ever.

"What's it mean?" Cana asked.

"Remember how all the paths we chose at the beginning of the trial were marked with letters?" Lucy reminded her.

"Back in the first round." Cana could finally see where this was going.

"Yup. You got it. Route E. I think that's where …" Lucy's words trailed off as Cana used her card magic to put the girl to sleep. She knew her partner wouldn't agree to go looking for Mavis' grave while there was still Grimoire Hearts to deal with.

"You've been a big help, thank you." Cana said as she moved Lucy to what she hoped would be a safe place. "I'm so sorry, Lucy." Cana was already feeling guilty but she had to become an S-Class wizard.

Cana found her way back to the caves from the first trial and started walking down the path labeled E. This had been the path Natsu had taken. She was a little surprised that he hadn't stumbled across it on accident. The moron had a habit of doing just that. She ended up finding a hidden tunnel and figured that had to lead her to the grave. As she walked she got lost in her own thoughts about her father and becoming an S-Class wizard.  _If Lucy was right … then I should be able to find Mavis' grave somewhere down here. I'm going to be the first one to find it. I'm going to be the one that passes the trial this year. I'll finally make S-Class rank. Then I can look him in the eye and I can tell him the truth. But I can't do it until I'm an S-Class wizard._

The tunnel opened up into a clearing surrounded by rock walls. In the wall across the clearing was what looked like a grave stone.  _Is that it?_  Cana asked herself.  _I finally found it, Mavis' grave. At last, I'll become and S-Class wizard and then I can face my father._

As she got closer to the grave she noticed that there was a bright light coming from the stone. There was also rain clouds overhead. If Cana had been thinking she would have remembered that it never rained in Tenrou Island. The rain was because of Juvia and her anger over Meredy threats against Gray's life.

_What is this? This light?_  Cana asked herself as she got closer.  _It's like fire. Am I seeing things? This light is intense, is it magic power?_

When she reached out for the fire and it sent pain up her arm. A message appeared in the sky inform of the grave. "Here I seal Fairy Glitter, one of the Three Grand Fairy spells. May it forever shine in the darkness."

This wasn't a grave after all. It was some magical storage. Was this what they were looking for? "What is this? Some sort of sick joke? I'm looking for a grave, not some stupid spell. How am I supposed to finish this trial? Master, I need answers! Am I just not good enough to become and S-Class wizard? After everything that's happened I fall short at the finish line. Have the past twelve years of my life been nothing but a big waste of time?" Cana was yelling at the empty air around her in her frustration. She then heard someone calling for help. It was coming from one of her cards. She had giving Lucy a matching card at the beginning of the trial and it was to alert her if Lucy was in trouble.

"What have I done? Lucy's I …" Cana couldn't believe she had left her friend alone when they were in the middle of a war. And for what? So she could find a stupid grave and become an S-Class wizard? "No! It wasn't supposed to be like this! I never meant to betray my friends. I can't do this anymore. It's okay if I don't become an S-class wizard. It's okay if I never tell my father the truth. As much as I want that. I want to protect my friends even more!" Cana reached out to try and touch the magic power that was Fairy Glitter. She knew she didn't have the strength on her own to help save Lucy but with this spell she could save her friends. Tears were running down her face as she tried to take the power that was in front of her. "Please! I have to save them. That's my only purpose right now! It doesn't matter whether I stay in the guild or not because no matter where I end up, or who I become, my heart will always belong to Fairy Tail! I'm begging you. I need the power and you're the only one who can give it to me now! I can't do it alone! Give me the strength to protect the guild and family that I hold dear." Cana was pleading to the first master, to the spell, to anything that would listen to let her get past whatever barrier was between her and the power she needed. She felt her hands touch the warmth of the magical energy and it filled her body.

"Dry your eyes. You have nothing to fear." There was a female voice on the wind as Cana felt the spell take hold in her body.

"Could it be her? Master Mavis?" Cana asked but got no reply. Had the first master just given her a blessing? She looked down at her arm that now had the markings for the Fairy Glitter spell. It was time she finds Lucy and saves her friend.

Cana ran through the forest in search of Lucy with the 'help' card leading the way as it continued to yell at her.  _I could be running straight to my death, but I don't care. I've got twelve years of kindness to repay. And you better believe I'm going to deliver. Hang in there Lucy. I'll be there soon. And I'm bringing the big guns with me. The Grand Spell, Fairy Glitter. Whoever is attacking you is about to get a face full of it. With this spell I can protect everyone._  Cana thought as she ran. She finally made her wait to a cliff and could see the battle happening below. Natsu, Wendy, Lucy, Carla and Happy were all fighting against Bluenote and he was clearly winning. He had them all pinned to the ground with his gravity magic.

"Are you the one I need to squash?" Cana asked as she jumped into the fight. She heard her friends call out to her, happy she was safe. It only made Cana feel guiltier for leaving them. "I'm not letting you lay another finger of my friends. You're going down!" She tried to use Fairy Glitter but was slammed into the ground before she could get the energy she needed.

"Tell me what that magic is or you die here." Bluenote asked her. Cana was unaware that she possessed the power that Bluenote was wanting for himself.

"Is it possible that she learned to use Fairy Glitter?" Carla asked out loud.

"Cana!" Lucy called out, wanting to warn her about how powerful the man she was about to fight was.

"I'm sorry. For leaving you in the forest, I mean. I betrayed you and our friendship. That was unforgivable." Cana held up her arm to show the marks on it. "But with this I can begin to atone. One shot from this spell will make sure this creep doesn't bother anyone again"

"Awesome! Does that mean you found the grave?" Lucy was hopeful that they might now stand a chance.

"What! She did!" Natsu yelled. "But if she found it … Man! I don't get to be S-Class this year." He pouted.

"We can talk about the trial later, Natsu. Right now, I need your help to beat this guy." Cana didn't care about the trial right then and she needed Natsu to focus. "Keep him distracted long enough for me to gather the power to send him packing."

Bluenote did not look impressed with her, in fact he seemed angry at her. "Little girl, you have gravely misjudged the gravity of your situation. I never thought Fairy Glitter would be delivered to me personally. Now, if you would be so kind. It's time I took that spell off your hands." He was holding Cana to the ground with increased gravity.

"Unless you plan on joining the Fairy Tail guild, that's not going to happen. The spell is useless to anyone else!" Cana shouted up at him but he just lifted her into the air with his magic. It felt like he had a hold of her by the throat.

"If you knew the origins of magic, you'd realize all spells are fundamentally the same. Every type of magic that exists today was once part of a single, unified whole. I've approached the Abyss of Sorcery. I don't need to join your guild to use that spell or any other." Bluenote sounded sure of himself. Cana could hear Lucy call out to her but she couldn't say anything. "I have a question for you. Did you think you were capable of wielding an advanced spell like Fairy Glitter?"

Cana knew she could do it, she just needed time to cast it. "Got a problem with that, Jerk?"

"It's an ultra-level spell that uses pure light to deny the existence of anyone its wielder deems to be an enemy. You bet I got a problem with an amateur who thinks she could control such power. Don't worry. I intent to relieve you of it as painfully as possible." Bluenote was threatening her. He was too distracted with Cana to notice what Natsu was doing behind him. The fire Dragon-Slayer wasn't able to get up so he launch an attack from under the ground. He used his Fire Dragon: Roar to destroy the ground under Bluenote. The man lost his concentration and dropped Cana to the ground, freeing her from his magic.

"Nice one, Natsu." Cana called out to him and got ready to cast her spell. "This amateur's about to rock your world. Assemble! O, river of light guided by Fairies!" She started to gather the energy needed and a bright light started to form into a column. "This is what a member of Fairy Tail can do!"

"She's doing it. But how?" Bluenote was watching, to stunned to move.

"May your radiance shine and vanquish the fangs of wickedness." The light from the sun, moon, and stars were all gathering together. "Adios you bastard! Go! Fairy Glitter!" The light encircled Bluenote, closing in on him. "For my family."

"Fall!" Bluenote yelled out his own spell, forcing the power from Fairy Glitter into the ground under his feet. He was able to successfully survive Cana's attack. "So, that's the skill it takes to use Fairy Glitter? Don't make me laugh. I guess even ultimate power can be garbage when it's put in the hands of lowly trash like you."

Cana was in her knees and it had nothing to do with Bluenote's magic.  _I failed again_. She couldn't believe it hadn't works. She put almost all her magic energy into that one attack.

"I'll take the spell now. And the good news is I don't need you alive to do so." Bluenote said as he approached her.

Cana was still in her own head, unable to move.  _My last chance and I blew it._  Bluenote was about to attack her with a fatal shot when Gildarts appeared in front of her and blocked the attack.  _Dad?_ Cana thought as she looked up at his back. How did he get there?

"You need to get out of here." Gildarts told the group. He couldn't fight at his full strength will all the kids around.

"That look on Gildarts face is one of the most intense things I've ever seen." Happy said sounding a little scared of their guild mate.

"Yes, I can definitely agree with that." Carla agreed with Happy.

"Go!" Gildarts shouted at them. Why couldn't the children ever just listen to him?

"I think we probably should get away from here like he asked us to." Wendy said.

"Yeah, you're right." Lucy looked to Cana. "Hey, Cana?"

Cana knew she must have had a stunned look on her face. She couldn't believe that her father had saved her. She hadn't even seen the man since arriving on the island and now he had just showed up at the perfect time to save her life. Could she leave him alone to fight this man on his own? She was going to have to trust his judgement. "Let's go. Gildarts can handle it. We'd only get in his way if we hung around." She led the group away from the fighting.  _Please, be careful, Dad._

Cana ran deep into the forest with the rest of her friends. They were talking about something but she didn't really pay attention. She was worried about Gildarts in his fight. She still hadn't been able to tell him he was her father and what if she never got the chance now. When Lucy asked Cana if anything was wrong she just brushed her off, saying she was fine. It seemed like only a few minutes after they had left the battle when suddenly what was left of Cana's magic power was drained from her. Everyone hit the ground as they felt their power leaving them. Cana passed out before she even reached the ground. She wouldn't wake up for a long time to come. She wouldn't know about the Tenrou Tree being destroyed or the battles that were being won and lost all over the island. And she would have no idea that Laxus was on his way to help save the guild he once tried to destroy himself.


	6. Enter Laxus

When Laxus made it to Tenrou Island the fighting was at its peak. Team Natsu and Wendy were in the middle of their battle with Hades and they were losing, badly. Hades had exhausted the group and was getting ready to deliver a fatal blow to Natsu. Laxus arrive just in time to save Natsu from dark wizard.

“So this is the fossil that took out Gramps? Interesting.” Laxus was trying to keep an air of indifference even as he was furious that his grandfather was severely injured by the man before him. Laxus’ lightning was still surrounding him when he head-butted Hades to get him away from Natsu.

“It’s Laxus” Gray was surprised to see him.

“I never thought I would be happy to see him.” Lucy commented to herself.

“Isn’t he the Masters grandson?” It was a little blue haired girl that spoke. Laxus didn’t recognize her but her scent hinted at her being a Dragon-Slayer. What was such a young girl doing at the S-Class trial and what was Natsu doing having her in this fight?

“I see” Hades said to Laxus. He thought the man had looked familiar. “So you’re a blood relative of Makarov.”

For the first time in Laxus’ life he was able to ignore those words. He didn’t care what this man thought about him. He was more worried about his old guild-mates. They were in rough shape. “How pathetic. You guys got beat so bad you look like a bunch of tattered rags.”

Natsu smiled up at Laxus and laughed. “No joke.” That was the reaction Laxus was hoping his words would have.

“What are you doing here, Laxus?” Erza asked him.

“I came to pay my respects to the first guild master. I used to me a member of Fairy Tail too, y’know. I was just planning to stop by Mavis’ grave, so this is a big surprise. I certainly didn’t expect to run into the second guild master.” Laxus had recognized the man calling himself Hades right away. He wasn’t sure how he was still alive after all these years but Laxus was planning to fix that soon. “I’ve got an idea, since you’re already here, how about I dig a grave for you, too?”

“My, what a shame. To think that poor Makarov would be burdened by such a pretentious grandson.” Hades tried to provoke Laxus.

Laxus didn’t let the words get to him. He knew the type of person he was, he had come to accept it. He instead attack and landed a few hard blows before Hades was able to recover and dodge out of the way. Laxus was feeling stronger than he ever had before and he knew it was because he was in tune with his inner dragon. They both wanted to take down Hades for what he had done to Fairy Tail.

“Good, I’m impressed with your magic power. Not to mention your courage. I didn’t realize the boy had more than one pawn of Gildarts’ caliber.” Hades didn’t even seem phased by Laxus’ attack.

“You know, that reminds me of something the geezer used to say. ‘Whenever you face a tough enemy it doesn’t matter how strong they are, standing up to them is what’s most important’ ain’t that right, Natsu?” Laxus called out to the Fire Dragon-Slayer.

“Yeah, you bet!” Natsu might be down right now but he wasn’t out. Laxus had a feeling he was going to need the kids help to take down Hades. He looked around but didn’t see anything flammable to give Natsu a boost of power. Looks like he was just going to have to buy time for the kid to recover.

“Utter nonsense. That’s nothing more than a weakling’s excuse. Think you’re strong enough to face me?” Hades beckoned Laxus to attack with his hand. “Then let’s see what you got!”

Laxus cracked his knuckles, this was going to be fun. “If you insist.” He lunged forward to attack with a lightning fist attack. Hades was just as fast as Laxus and the two seemed evenly matched. Laxus lunched multiple attacks with his Dragon-Slayer magic but Hades was able to doge them all. In return though Hades had been unable to land a hit with any of his magic either. Hades tries attack with his chain magic but Laxus dodged again. The chain linked with the giant globe in the center of the room and Hades used it to almost crush Lucy who was still unable to move. In the few seconds that Laxus was distracted Hades knocked him off his feet with a wave of energy. Laxus found himself on his knees with magic circles around him. He recognized the spell as the Amaterasu Formula and he knew he was in trouble.

“Now die!” Hades shouted out before activating the spell. There was a black ball of magic energy so strong that it threw Wendy, Natsu, Gray, Erza, and Lucy away from the center point, “Those hit by the Amaterasu Formula lose all strength in their limbs and become immobilized. Simply blocking it consumes so much magic power it can be fatal.”

Laxus had shifted to lightning to try and avoid the attack, knowing he couldn’t possibly block it. He came around behind Hades and used his speed to land a hard kick to Hades back, knocking the old man down. “To think, that was only one leg. I still have the other one and both my hands. Not to mention the rest of me. If I combined them into one attack it’s be a hell of a lot stronger than the kick that just took you down.” Laxus was bluffing but it was really all he had at this point. He had managed to doge the worse of the Amaterasu Formula but he could already feel the effects of it from just being grazed. This fight was going to end, soon. “You want to try me?”

“You talk big. Although I can’t blame you. There’s an air of confidence that comes with youth but it’s not indicative of your skill. You can’t beat me!” Laxus didn’t know if Hades could see his bluff or was just that over confident. But he was going to take him down. They both attacked at the same time and it ended in a draw. Laxus was running low on magic power and his knees gave out on him. He couldn’t get up, he couldn’t even move thanks to that spell from before.

“Well, would you look what we have here? I knew you were full of bravado but I didn’t expect you to fall to your knees so soon.” Hades was gloating over him.

Laxus could hear Natsu call out to him. He had bought the kid as much time as he could, but it didn’t seem like it had been enough. Laxus laughed as he looked at Hades. “I’ve traveled almost everywhere, all over this world of ours, but this is the first time I’ve ever met such a monster.” And people thought Laxus was a monster, he had nothing on this guy. “I’ve got a long way to go.”

“What are you saying?” Natsu yelled at him. He could tell Laxus was ready to give up the fight.

“You got to pull yourself together, man!” Gray yelled at him. It was strange to have the children he treated so poorly trying to support him.

“I’m glad I could help you come to that realization, Laxus, was it? But this is the end.” Hades stood over Laxus with a ball of pure dark magic power in his hand. That power was probably going to be enough to kill Laxus. “Prepare to die!”

“I realize, I’m not a member of Fairy Tail anymore.” Laxus could hear everyone around him yelling at him to get out of the way but he couldn’t move. He had one last plan and it was probably going to kill him. “This bastard took out my grandpa. So I’m allowed to take revenge, right?”

“Yeah, of course you are!” Natsu shouted.

Laxus summoned up all the magical power he had left into one bolt of electricity and sent it all to Natsu. This was either going to save them or kill Natsu. It meant that Laxus took the full hit from Hades attack without any protection. “This one’s my treat, Natsu.”

After the attack dissipated Laxus saw that Natsu had been able to ingest his lightning. The other around were discussing what this could mean but Laxus was just happy to see Natsu was on his feet again.

“Why did you give it to me? You know that I’m weaker than you.” Natsu was staring at Laxus in disbelief, the magic energy was still sparking around his body.

“It has nothing to do with who’s weaker or stronger. He wounded Fairy Tail’s master. It’s only right that someone with the guilds emblem take him down. Anyone who hurts the guild deserves what’s coming to them. Go get him, Natsu.” Laxus had faith that Natsu was stronger than he knew. Laxus had felt the strength that came from being in tune with his dragon. To Natsu that was just second nature. If he could tap into that power now, Laxus knew he would win. He felt his eyes closed as his exhaustion finally got the better of him.

Natsu attacks Hades with the combined force of his and Laxus’ magic, becoming a Lightning-Flame Dragon-Slayer. Natsu’s attacks are exponentially stronger than they were before and he is able to deal heavy damage to his opponent. Natsu pours all his combined power into a Lightning-Flame Dragon: Roar. The attack is so powerful it can be seen over the entire island and blows up a significant portion of the ship. He is so weak after the attack he can hardly stand but Lucy catches him before he falls off the ship. Hades appears to have finally been defeated.

“You may have knocked me down, but I’m not out.” They hear Hades voice and the old man actually stands up. “Well done Makarov. You’ve raised some truly remarkable children despite your flawed philosophy. I can’t remember the last time someone left me tattered and torn after a good brawl.” As he spoke magic energy covered his body and when it faded he was completely healed from his injuries, even his clothes had been returned to their pre-fight state.

“I appreciate the entertainment but I must get back to work. I’ll be obliterating you now. Believe me, you’ll wish I’d done so sooner.” Hades removed his eye patch to show a glowing red eye. “Devil’s Eye, open. You will now witness something you’ve never seen before. The Abyss of Sorcery. From here extends an endless realm that surpasses your feeble imaginations.”

They could feel the dark magic power surrounding them and growing stronger by the second. It had all of them freaked out. Lucy was trying to get Natsu back up but he was out of power, useless right then. The strength of the darkness around them was enough to bring Laxus around, although he couldn’t do anything other than listen as Hades explained his whole reason for doing this.

“In order to walk the path of sorcery one must sink into its abyss of eternal darkness. Within that darkness lies primordial magic that shines like the heavens. The purest of magic power. Can you feel it? The primordial magic is so close it’s palpable. Yet it’s so far in the depths it may as well be out of reach. Within those depths is a lost world. The Grand Magic World. And Zeref is the key to reaching it. Tonight, Zeref will awaken and history will forever be altered and then at long last the primordial magic’s will find their rightful place with me.”

“We cannot allow that to happen.” Erza told him. She was readying herself to fight.

“You will be ostracized. Only the strong will be allowed to live and you lack the resolve necessary to reach into the abyss.” Hades words chilled Laxus to the bone. They were so similar to what he use to believe. Not long ago Laxus would have done anything for the type of power Hades had and he hadn’t cared who got into his way. Laxus found a new understanding of his grandfather’s actions. If this was the path Laxus had been walking down he couldn’t blame Makarov for banishing him. But this also meant that Hades was going down. A man like him would never defeat Fairy Tail.

“Things are about to get way worse.” Gray said, having a bad feeling about that eye Hades had.

“Chapter Four, Verse Twelve from the Book of Zeref. Arcane Magic: Nemesis.” Hades chanted and creatures started to rise out of the debris around them. They were horrible monsters created purely from dark energy. “With the magic power of the Abyss at my command I can create nightmares from the tiniest speck of dust. Devilish dancers and heavenly arbiters. Such is the supremacy of Arcane Magic.”

Every Fairy Tail member there was frozen in place with fear as they came face to face with the creatures that Hades had summoned. Everyone except Natsu who had gotten to his feet.

“Don’t worry. We’ve got everything we need to beat this guy right here with us.” He began to quote Gildarts from their fight earlier. “There’s nothing wrong with fear. After all, how else would we come to know our own weaknesses? And you need to know them to become a stronger and gentler person.” He looked around at his friends. “Today we learned just how weak we really are. So what do we do next? I’ll tell you, we grow stronger! On our own we might be too afraid to stand up to him but right now, we have our friends by our side. I still have courage because you’re all here with me. There’s no reason to be afraid! When we’re together we can accomplish anything!” Natsu always had a way of motivating people.

Natsu lead the charge at Hades. They were attacking without any magic power but they wouldn’t give up. Natsu had given them the strength to face their fear and with that strength Hades magic had no effect on them. Wendy and Lucy tossed Natsu forwards and with a helping kick from Gray and Erza, Natsu was able to land an explosive hit to Hades, causing all the creatures around them to fade away.

After the attack Laxus felt his power returning to him. It was the same for all the wizards of Fairy Tail as, somehow, the Tenrou Tree was being restored and with it the blessing on the guild. Laxus didn’t know why he was included in that but he didn’t care at the moment. He got himself up and deliver a lightning punch to Hades face, ordering everyone to attack him at the same time. They couldn’t let him recover again.

Lucy attack with her newest spirit, Capricorn. Wendy used her Sky Dragon: Wing Attack, confirming Laxus’ assumption she was a Dragon-Slayer. Gray used his Ice Bringer and Erza attack with her Heaven’s Wheel armor. Hades knew that he was going to be defeated and in a last ditch effort tried to use Grimoire Law. He wasn’t fast enough and Natsu took him down with his new attack. Advance Dragon-Slayer Secret Art: Flame Lotus Exploding Lightning Blade.

“We did it gramps. We showed them who’s boss. We put everything on the line and we showed them the power of our guild.” Natsu said and Laxus couldn’t help but smile at him with pride. The kid had actually done it. “Fairy Tail is the Greatest!

Just when they thought the battle was over and they might get a chance to rest the three Exceeds ran up with the rest of Grimoire Hearts guild chancing after them. The six of them were out of magic power and the dark guild was planning to take advantage of this. Luckily the other members of Fairy Tail showed up then and Master Makarov was able to scare them off. The entire guild was celebrating their victory as the sun rose over the island. Laxus was acutely aware of Cana’s presence. He could feel it in every cell in his body and it took great effort for him to ignore her. He had other things to worry about.

He was sitting cross legged on the ground, wait for his grandfather to scorn him, or even acknowledge him. He wasn’t stupid enough to think Makarov didn’t notice him. “I’m proud of you for coming back …” The old man said much to Laxus’ surprise, he still couldn’t look at the old geezer though. “Is that what you expected me to say?!” He was suddenly yelling at Laxus. “How dare you set foot on Tenrou Island after I kicked you out of the guild?! What were you thinking?! You’re still expelled, y’know!”

This was the reaction he had been expecting. His sighed. “Geez you’re going to have a heart attack, old man.”

Levy tried to calm the master down but all the yelling had drawn the full attention of the guild. The Thunder Legion noticed Laxus and tackled him in their joy to have their leader back.

“You came back to us!” Bickslow shouted in joy.

“We thought we’d never see you again!” Evergreen was hugging him tightly and Freed was simply crying in happiness.

“Get off!” He shouted as he tried shoving them off him. They were making his skin craw, especially Evergreen. His inner dragon didn’t like her touching him and it had been the reason he snapped at them. He cared about his friends but he didn’t want them clinging to him.

The guild started to work their way back to base camp. The members involved in the last fight had to be mostly carried and there was still two members missing, Juvia and Gildarts. Cana was worried about her father but they could look for him after getting everyone better. She had been shocked to see Laxus on the island and it only added to the conflicted emotions inside of her.

As Bickslow and Freed helped Laxus back to camp he picked up some of the conversation Makarov was having with Hades. “Why did you fall to the dark side?” Makarov asked the former Master, a question Laxus wanted the answer too as well.

“I told you once, darkness is the true nature of magic. It is comprised of miracles that were born in the shadows and subsequently brought into the light. After I retired from Fairy Tail I began traveling down the path of sorcery in hopes of learning the underlying principles of the world. I learned that the one we live in, with its overflowing magic, is a lie. The Grand Magic World that Lord Zeref described is the true world of magic. I wanted nothing more than to see it for myself. To make that happen I began collecting all of the keys I needed to resurrect the legendary black wizard. I was so close … So incredible close to my dream. Primordial magic was finally within my reach.” Hades explained.

Was magic really dark at its heart? Laxus felt inside himself to his inner dragon, the living magic inside his body. It was dark, it fed on his negative emotion. It made him stronger by making him feel hate and anger. He could see what Hades was talking about. His magic was the darkness inside him.

“Even if your dream had been realized it wouldn’t change anything. If magic’s true nature is darkness I can accept that.” Makarov said much to Laxus’ surprise. “And if it’s light, I can accept that too, because magic is alive. So its purpose is ever-evolving with the times. It grows, along with the wizards who use it. There’s no definition of magic because everyone thinks of it differently. It’s as limitless as your imagination. It can become darkness or light depending on its caster. Fairy Tail is free to use magic however we choose.” It was as if Makarov had been reading Laxus’ thoughts. Maybe it was time Laxus started listening to the old man’s lectures.

Back at base camp Wendy started to use her healing magic to fix up the worse of the injured. Gildarts and Juvia had managed to find their way back but had apparently lost Zeref. Laxus learned that Lisanna hadn’t actually died and had just been in another world, which was taking some time to wrap his head around. He also told Gildarts all about how he had been expelled from the guild. Cana had gotten angry over seeing the two of them together and he didn’t really understand why. He was slowly adjusting to her scent again but it wasn’t easy. He had been doing anything to distract himself from it and that was the main reason he was schmoozing with the other guild members. After Cana had seen him with Gildarts she had left the camp and went off on her own into the forest.

“I’ll keep everyone distracted if ya need time with your mate.” Gajeel said to Laxus, he was keeping his voice down so that no one else could hear them.

“My what? I don’t know what you are talking about.” Laxus had been watching the spot Cana had disappeared.

“What!” Gajeel shouted before lowering his voice. “Don’t tell me ya don’t know about the mating neither.”

“I don’t need to tell you anything” Laxus brushed him off and headed into the forest, following Cana’s scent. He still didn’t like the Iron Dragon-Slayer and if he knew about his relationship with Cana it made him a bigger threat.

Laxus found Cana sitting on a large boulder in the middle of a small clearing. She had her back to him but he could smell the salt of her tears. He wanted to pull her into his arms and comfort her but he didn’t trust himself to touch her. Just her scent was driving him crazy, if they touched he was sure to lose control. “I guess you’re still mad at me, huh?” The rest of the guild members on the island had seem for forgive him, but he hadn’t hurt them like he had Cana.

Cana wiped her eyes before turning around to face him. “It’s not that. I actually forgive you for what happened.” She was being oddly serious for once.

“You shouldn’t.” he said simply. He moved closer to her, he couldn’t help it. He only stopped when they were a few inches apart.

“I didn’t want to forgive you but … During the trials I betrayed Lucy. I hurt my own partner just so I could become S-Class. I almost got her killed. I guess that made me understand what you did a little more. Being guild master is just as important to you as being S-Class is to me.” She couldn’t look at him as she talked. She saw his hand reach out for her arm, stopping just short of touching her before he pulled back.

“Why does S-Class mean so much to you?” He asked, mostly for a distraction.

“I made a promise to myself. I would tell my father the truth once I was S-Class.” She leaned into his chest. She felt him tense up under her but she wanted to feel his warmth. She wrapped her arms around him to hold him tightly.

“So are you going to tell him? Before he runs off again?” Laxus asked her and it must have surprised her because she jumped back and looked up at him. “I figured it out a long time ago. Gildarts is your father, right? You were always hanging around him when he was at the guild but it wasn’t the hero worship that Natsu showed. You were always nervous, you could barely talk. You also worry about him when he’s gone. He was the only person in the guild you couldn’t seem to talk too. I figured he had to be the guy you came looking for.”

Cana actually felt relief at the fact someone else knew her secret. She leaned into him again but he was still tense. “Yeah, I’m going to tell him.”

They stood like that in silence for a while. Laxus had laid his head on her, breathing in her scent. He was still too scared to return her embrace. His inner dragon was getting agitated at his lack of action. It had this strong, possessive need to have her, his … mate? The word was strange but it felt right at the same time. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to control myself much longer if you continue to cling to me.” He told her.

“Then lose control.” She spoke in just above a whisper but her body spoke volumes above that. She pulled him closer and rubbed her body fully against his, wiggling herself against the hardness she felt between their bodies.

His inner dragon roared in delight. The sound rumbled in his chest as he pushed her back against the boulder she had been sitting on. Their lips smashed together in a desperate, heated kiss. His desire was already wound up so high he hardly noticed the difference when they had finally touched. He could smell her reaction though and his inner dragon was practically purring with his approval. He could feel his magic taking physical shape and when her tongue brushed over his fangs they both shivered.

“Hey, Cana! Where did you go?” Lucy’s voice travelled through the trees.

Laxus growled as he kissed and nibbled a path down Cana’s neck. “If she comes over here, I might kill her.”

“You wouldn’t” Cana was breathless, suddenly crying out when Laxus bit with significant force at the sensitive spot at the base of her neck, sucking on the sensitive skin. “Laxus! You’re going to leave a mark.” That had been the whole point. Laxus kissed along her collarbone before repeating his bite on the other side of her neck.

Cana was lost to the sensation on Laxus’ mouth on her body. She didn’t even hear the squeak Lucy let out when she walked into the clearing. Laxus cursed and pulled away from her, true fury was in his eyes as he turned to Lucy.

Cana whined at the loss of contact but quickly sobered as she saw the rage in his eyes, his lightning was dancing across his skin and he looked every bit the dangerous Dragon-Slayer he was, covered in scales with claws and fangs bared. Cana quickly put herself between him and Lucy.

“I take it I’m interrupting.” Lucy said nervously, backing slowly away.

“Don’t run!” Cana shot over her shoulder at Lucy as she faced Laxus. “Dragon’s love to hunt, you’ll only provoke him further.”

“That’s easy for you to say! He doesn’t look like he wants to murder you!” Lucy shouted at Cana.

Cana ignored her friend and instead focused on her lover. “Hey there, bad boy. What’s all this all about?” She tried a playful tone with him. She grabbed his arms, his lightning stung but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. She had thought he had been joking about killing Lucy before, now, not so much. Cana forced him to look at her, it took a lot of effort but she did manage it. “You’re not going to let your anger control you again? Are you?”

“Dragons don’t share” His voice was a low growl that sounded completely foreign.

“Who’s asking you to share? Lucy isn’t here to join in. Right Lu?” Cana was trying to keep her voice calm.

“Right. I didn’t even know you guys were here. I’ll just be going now if that’s okay with you …” Lucy sounded like she was terrified but Cana didn’t risk looking at her.

“Is it okay if she leaves?” Cana asked. Laxus’ eyes darted to Lucy when she tried taking a step back. “Hey, focus on me.” She held on tightly to his face, making him look back at her. His lightning was starting to burn and the pain must have shown on her face because he moved back a step, regaining control of his magic for the moment.

“You should both leave.” Laxus was fighting for control over his inner dragon. It was furious and it was taking everything he had to keep it from hurting Lucy. His weak control was evidenced by the fact he was still in his Dragon-Slayer form.

“I don’t think I should leave you alone right now …” Cana was worried about him.

“If someone was to stop us again …” he took a deep breath, his whole body shaking with the effort he was putting forth. “It won’t be pretty.”

Lucy grabbed Cana’s hand “We should listen to him. Let’s go.” Cana reluctantly let Lucy pull her away from Laxus. Once they were safely out of sight Laxus released a large amount of magical power in the form on lightning. His inner drgon was livid at losing its mate. Laxus’ roar of anger was drowned out by the sound of his thunder.

“What did I just walk into?” Lucy asked Cana as they both looked at the light show Laxus was putting out.

Cana just sighed, not answering her. “Why were you looking for me anyways?” She asked her friend.

“Oh, right. I heard about these healing springs nearby and wanted to see if you wanted to check them out with me.” Lucy looked over Cana’s neck and her burned arms. “It looks like you might need them.”

Cana covered up the marks on her neck with her hands, blushing. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”

“You can tell me all about it while we wash.” Lucy said, dragging her off to the springs.

This was going to be one long, awkward conversations.


	7. 7 Years Later

Cana managed to avoid any questions from Lucy until after they were in the spring. The water stung on Cana’s wounds but it was working. The burns on her arms were already fading and the ache from her bites was going away.

“So, do you want to talk about it?” Lucy asked after a few minutes of quiet.

“Talk about what?” Cana tried playing dumb.

“You and Laxus.” Lucy looked worried about her friend.

“There’s not much to say. We hook up sometimes, that’s all. It’s no big deal” She tried to brush it off but could tell Lucy wasn’t buying it.

“It looked like a big deal.” Lucy swam over to her. “I’m just worried about you. I don’t want him to hurt you.”

Cana sighed and hugged herself. “It’s really not that bad. He can just get a little …” She couldn’t think of a word to describe his behavior but Lucy seemed to understand. “A little like _that_ sometimes. Apparently Dragon-Slayers are highly … possessive.” She felt herself blush. “He won’t hurt me intentionally.”

Lucy tried to trust her friend’s judgment. She was still worried but if he ever really hurt Cana she would just get Loke to kick his ass. “I can’t believe you’re with Laxus.” she giggled a little at Cana’s embarrassment.

“I told you, it’s not like that.” Cana practically yelled her denial at Lucy. “We really do just hook up every now and then. There’s nothing more than that.” Cana knew that was probably a lie. It was a lie to her anyways, there was a lot more to what she felt for Laxus then just a hook up. Given how Laxus had been reacting lately she had to wonder if maybe she meant more to him too. She wasn’t in love with him, but he did mean more to her then _just_ a hook up.

Lucy decided to let the topic go and switched over to asking about Gildarts. Cana told her she was going to tell him the truth even though the S-Class trials had been cancelled. Lucy helped her get Gildarts alone. Cana was thankful for the healing abilities of the spring because she had not been looking forward to facing her father with love marks on her neck. Gildarts took the news in the way only Gildarts could. In the end they reached a happy agreement and Cana’s day was starting to look up.

Makarov had gone to the spot Laxus had been having his little fit. Laxus had managed to dispel enough magic power that he was once again in control of his inner dragon. He knew Makarov had questions for him when he walked into the clearing but Laxus wasn’t in the mood to talk about it.

“I see you’re as short tempered as ever, my boy.” Makarov said disapprovingly to him.

“I don’t want to listen to another one of your lectures, old man.” Laxus leaned against a nearby tree. “I’m sorry for coming to your stupid island. Won’t happen again.”

“You can’t just do what you want and expect everyone to forgive you after.” Makarov sat on the bolder that Cana had been on.

“I wasn’t looking for your forgiveness. You were in trouble and I came to help. I’m not asking for anything. I’m not expecting to be a member of the guild again. I’ll be out of your hair once we get back to Hargeon.” Laxus tried to brush off all his grandfather’s concerns.

Silence fell between the two men and Erza showed up to tell Makarov that they would be able to leave soon. She also tried to talk to him about Laxus.

“I have nothing to discuss with or about that boy.” He said but clearly he wasn’t ready to let Laxus off the hook. “Except to say he has quite a pair on him. Daring to set foot on the Fairy Tail guilds most sacred ground. He no longer enjoys that privilege.”

 _The old man really isn’t going to let that go._ Laxus thought. It was like he was holding on to that as a reason to be mad at Laxus.

“But what he’s done for us.” Erza tried to argue.

“Yes, I heard all about his heroic fight with Hades. How he saved your lives by putting himself directly into harm’s way. My appreciation for what he did is more than words could convey. But as far as Fairy Tail’s concerned he is still an outsider. Albeit one to whom we owe our gratitude.”

“So your position is firm, it is?” Erza tone hinted she wasn’t going to really let this go.

“Of course it is. That’s how the guild’s stayed strong over the years. You can’t buy your way in with a single good deed; it takes a lot more.” Laxus let his presence be known to Erza. He didn’t want her or anyone in the guild to get in trouble trying to stand up for him. He really didn’t deserve it. “You guys were in a jam. So I did what any decent passing stranger should do and tried to help out. There wasn’t any kind of ulterior motive behind my actions” He called to Makarov and earned a glare from him in return. “Yeah, that’s the look. Classic. Probably the last time I’ll see that scowling face for a long while. Later.” He turned to leave. That’s when they heard the deep booming sound of Acnologia approaching the island.

Everyone on the island gathered at base camp to see the dragon approaching the island. Master Makarov tried to fight off the giant beast and give everyone else time to run away. Laxus had to literally drag Natsu away from the battle by his scarf. Laxus didn’t want to leave his grandfather alone to fight such a creature, he knew the old man wouldn’t survive and it brought tears to his eyes. Once they were a safe distance from the battle he let Natsu go, shoving him in the direction of the ship.

“You guys get out of here!” He ordered to the Fairy Tail members.

“What are you going to do, Laxus?” Erza asked him.

“I’m going to go help the old geezer. I am a Dragon-Slayer after all. It’s about time I earn my title.” Laxus had an air of confidence around him, one he didn’t really feel inside.

“We are not going to let you fight that thing alone.” Freed told him, Bickslow and Evergreen agreeing with him and stepping forward.

“You’re not the only Dragon-Slayer here, Sparky” Gajeel told him.

“Right, we will help too.” Wendy added against Carla’s protest that she would do no such thing.

“I’m not letting you have all the fun!” Natsu said, getting himself all fired up. Eventually everyone in the guild was insisting that they were going to join the fight as well.

Laxus shoot his head at them in exasperation. “It’s your funeral. The old man’s going to kill you for disobeying his orders.”

That was the end of the discussion. The whole of Fairy Tail returned to try and defeat Acnologia. Laxus lead the charge with everyone attacking with their full power but it was no use. Even a three layered Dragon-Slayer breath attack seemed to have no effect of the beast at all. They were out of options. Even combined they had no hope of defeating the monster they face. There was no hope to outrun it now either. Levy and Freed came up with the idea to try and cast a protection spell. Everyone knew there was almost no hope of this working but they all silently agreed that if they were going to die, they would die together. They stood together in a circle to combine their magic power. Laxus was holding hands with his team and Makarov. His eyes met Cana’s across the circle where she was holding the hands of Gildarts and Lucy. Laxus felt a peace fall over him right before Acnologia’s attack. This was his family and if he was going to die, at least he would die with the people at mattered to him.

Acnologia completely destroyed the island with his breath attack. There were no survivors

– Year X791, Tenrou Island –

Everyone woke up on the island in much the same condition they had been in before Acnologia attacked. It was hard for them to believe that they had been trapped on the island for seven years. Honestly if it wasn’t for the fact that Jet and Droy had clearly changed in that time they would probably think it was all just a joke. The first master, Mavis, explained to them how she was able to use their bonds of trust and friendship to protect them. It all sounded too strange to Laxus but then again he was talking to a ghost so he could accept some unbelievable shit right then.

The journey back to the mainland was going to take several hours. The first few were spent with the guild catching up on everything that had happened while they were gone. Wendy had healed up their injuries and even cast the Troia spell on the Dragon-Slayers so they could enjoy the sail home. Laxus was starting to like the little girl. She had been scared of him at first but she seemed to be warming up to him.

It wasn’t a very windy day so the trip seemed to be taking even longer than it should. Most of the guild had changed into swim wear, or less in Gray’s case, and were enjoying the warm weather. It was too hot for Laxus’ liking and he was having a hard time relaxing. It took him longer than it should have for him to notice his problem was Cana. The heat was making her scent stronger and there was no way for him to avoid it. It seemed to cling to everything she touched, everywhere she went.

When he finally couldn’t take it anymore he went over to where she was standing by the railing, looking out over the water. She was only wearing a black bikini and he took his time to look her over before he spoke. “I think there might be some booze stored below deck if you want to go look for it with me.” He kept his voice casual as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

Cana couldn’t hold back her moan as the desire filled her. It was so much stronger than it had been on the island. It was like the fact they hadn’t finished was adding fuel to the already out of control fire. Cana looked into Laxus’ eyes and saw the same need, his pupils were already slits. She wasn’t sure how she had controlled herself but she managed to walk at a somewhat normal pace to the stairs that lead below deck. She knew he was following her and he pulled her into the first room they came across, pushing her against the door when he closed it.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Cana asked, having to bite back a moan as Laxus nuzzled her neck. “What if someone walks in again?”

“I’m going to fuck you. Here or up there in front of everyone, it’s your choice.” Laxus whispered in her ear before kissing the sensitive spot behind it. Her scent was so much richer than it normally was. She typically smelled of lavender and vanilla under all the booze but today there was an added tone, like damp grass after rain. He didn’t know if the booze had always kept it hidden or if this was another change in her scent but it made his head spin.

“Here, please.” She was already working on getting his pants off. They were in a small storage room with crates and barrels scattered around the place. Laxus lifted her up and set her onto one of the crates before claiming her mouth. This kiss had all the same rough passion that it had in the forest. Cana managed to get his pants undone and shoved them down until his erection was free and she could take him into her hand.

Laxus let out a low growl followed by a mumbled curse. He was just keeping his magic under control but he wouldn’t be able to keep it up if Cana kept stroking him like that. He fingers were just a whisper over his sensitive flesh and he needed more. He moved the fabric of her bikini bottoms out of the way before he brushed her hands aside and entered her in one hard thrust. Cana’s cries of pleasure were muffled by Laxus’ mouth.

“Best keep quiet.” He told her as he pulled almost all the way out and thrust in again. “Someone might hear you.”

“Fuck, Laxus!” Cana wrapped her arms and legs around him. Her hands clung to the back of his shirt as she muffled herself with his shoulder. Laxus moved at the fast, desperate pace they both craved. It didn’t take long before Cana could feel herself building up to her release but Laxus reached his first. Cana gasped and arched herself into him. She tried to move her hips, anything to help get her over the edge. “Laxus, please …” She begged.

Laxus held her tightly in place, not allowing her to move. When she reached between them his knocked her hand away. He heard her whimper but he thought it was time she experience some of the pain he has suffered for three years. He waited until he felt her body starting to relax, coming off the edge, before he took a step back, slipping out of her.

Cana fell back onto the crate she was sitting on. Every nerve in her body was on fire, screaming for release. She reached between her legs again, determined to finish what Laxus had failed to do. He gabbed both her wrist to stop her and pulled her against his chest.

“Not yet.” He whispered in her ear, sending chills over her body. “You don’t get go come until I say so.”

“Please …” There was no way to hide the need in her voice, her whole body was trembling.

He chuckled to himself. “We have a long trip back. I’m going to have some fun.” She whimpered as he moved away again, fixing his clothing. “And no cheating, Cana. I’ll know.” He said before heading back up on deck.

Cana took a few minutes to get herself under control before fixing her bikini and going back up on deck. When she got up there she noticed Natsu was staring at her and a red faced Wendy couldn’t even look her direction. _Dragon-Slayer sense of smell. So much for keeping this quiet._ Cana thought. She saw Laxus heading over to talk with Natsu, most likely to threaten him if he said anything. Cana didn’t want him to scare Wendy so she went over to talk to her.

“Wendy?” she said as she knelt down next to the girl who was sitting at a table with Carla.

“Umm … Hi, Cana.” Wendy was beat red and Cana noticed she was making a point of not breathing through her nose. She had her eyes focused on the drink in her hand.

“What has gotten into you, child? You should look at someone when they are talking to you.” Carla scolded her.

“I’m sorry …” She looked up at Cana.

Cana gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “I hate to make this more awkward, but do you mind keeping quiet about what happened? We don’t need the guild making a big deal about it.”

Wendy nodded then got a confused look on her face, her embarrassment seemed to be subsiding. “But you two are mates, right? Why wouldn’t you want anyone to know?”

“What are you talking about?” Carla asked but both girls ignored the Exceed.

“It’s a bit complicated. I’ll tell you about it when you’re older.” Wendy wasn’t happy with that answer. She hated when they would treat her like a little girl. “Hey, is there a way for you to remove that motion sickness cure you used on all the guys?”

Wendy frowned at her. “I’ve never tried. Why?”

Cana sighed and stood up. “I just wanted to get a little payback.” She smiled at the girl. “Don’t worry about it.”

Wendy nodded but was clearly very confused by the odd conversation. While they had been talking a fight broke out between Laxus and Natsu. Gray, Erza, Elfman, and Mira had all joined in too. Cana walked to the other side of the ship where Lucy and Levy were laying out on towels, sunbathing. Cana’s skin still felt like it was on fire, even the slight breeze felt like a caress on her skin and made her shiver with need. She could still feel Laxus’ touch, like a phantom. Her lips felt swollen from their kisses and she could taste him on them. Cana laid out a towel beside Lucy and laid down. It was going to take a long time for her body to calm down.

“So any idea what started that fight?” Lucy asked. Cana looked over as saw that Bickslow, Freed, and Gajeel had now joined.

Cana felt herself blush. “Laxus is teaching Natsu about minding his own business.”

Lucy gasped in shock at the implications of that statement and the blush on Cana’s face before she started laughing.

“What’s so funny, Lu?” Levy asked from Lucy’s other side. Lucy just waved her off though, making some lame excuse about the boys being children.

It took a while for Cana to fully relax under the sun. She was fully aware of the fight going on even though she wasn’t watching it. She was also aware when it ended and Laxus made his way to the upper deck. She could feel him watching her and she had to force her body to ignore it and not squirm under his gaze. Eventually she was able to push him from her mind and enjoy the warmth of the sun. Slowly she was starting to drift to sleep.

“You lady’s thirsty?” Cana opened her eyes to see Laxus standing there with three glasses of ice water for them. She had almost been asleep and hadn’t even heard him approaching.

Levy and Lucy both sat up and took a glass from him with their thanks. He held the last one out for Cana but she didn’t take it.

“I didn’t find any booze earlier, this is all you get.” He told her. He handed her the glass and their fingers just barely brushed each other. It was more than enough. The fire that Cana had finally subdued down to embers was back with vengeance. She had been expecting this, she knew this was his plan when he walked over so she was able to suppress her reaction. She placed her glass down beside her and got up.

“I’ll go look for myself. This is a Fairy Tail ship, there has to be booze somewhere.” She said as she headed back below deck, back to that room.

“Suit yourself” Laxus said to her back as she went. He heard Lucy let out a little giggle. She was fully aware of the little game that had just taken place and in a strange way it had made her feel better about their relationship. It was clear to Lucy that Laxus was crazy for Cana, even if it might just be the sex. Laxus waited until Lucy and Levy had finished their water and laid back down before he went after Cana.

Laxus followed her scent back to the room they had been using earlier. He could hear her racing heart thru the door, her muffled moaned. He could smell her arousal and knew what she was doing in there. She was cheating.

“Someone’s miss behaving.” He said as he slipped into the room. Cana jumped in surprise, quickly pulling her hand out from between her legs. She was laid out on the floor, her bikini had been discarded next to her. When Laxus had walked in she been pleasing herself with one hand, the other was cupping her breast, teasing her own nipple. Laxus kneeled down over her and took the offending hand in his, licking her fingers clean. “I said no cheating.”

Cana moaned as she watched his movement. “Why are you doing this?” She asked, her voice was breathless.

“This is what you do to me.” He explained, pulling his pants down to free himself again. He slowly stroked himself as he continued. “Every time I’m at the guild I can smell you. I want you. I can smell all the filth you distract yourself with.” He positioned himself between her legs. “I’m not going to allow that anymore, because it really pisses me off.” He snarled before he thrust into her. Cana cried out, pulling him down against her chest. “This is your punishment.” He growled into her ear.

Laxus did not allow Cana to orgasm this time either. It left her even more frustrated than she was before. Laxus seemed to be enjoying his little torture of her because only an hour later he was again trying to get her below deck. She tried to ignore the reaction to his touch at first but she eventually gave in when he, once again, threatened to screw her on the deck of the ship. After the third time she was denied she had enough. If he didn’t want to give her what she needed, she would take it herself.

Cana had a trap all set up for him. It started with getting Laxus jealous. This was done easily enough with some help from Gray. Cana was laying out on her towel when she started to complain about the heat. “Hey, Gray, how about helping a girl cool down over here!” She yelled at the Ice-Make mage. She had notice that at some point he had managed to put swim trunks on. This probably had something to do with Juvia ogling his naked body. She hadn’t been the only one, Cana had noticed Lucy taking a few long looks as well.

Gray came over to where the girls were laying. “What can I do for you?”

Cana got an idea then on a way to help her and her friend out. “I don’t know about you two,” She said in reference to Lucy and Levy, “but I’m burning up and my neck is killing me. How about I get one of your famous ice massages.” Cana smiled at Gray.

He shrugged, “Sure, no problem.” It wasn’t the first time Cana had asked for this. She would normally asked for one when she had a splitting headache from a hangover. Apparently Gray was good at giving shoulder massages. Cana was like a sister to him growing up so he never thought anything weird about it. Gray covered his hands in frost and started to massage Cana’s shoulders for her.

Cana sighed happily. She wasn’t normally turned on by Gray and his massages but her body was warped so tight right now anything could set her off. “Lucy you need to try this. I’m telling you, Gray is the best.”

Gray smiled. “Yeah, I’ll do you next, Luce” he promised his teammate. He had his back to her and didn’t see the blush that covered her cheeks.

Cana felt Laxus’ presence as he came over to them. She knew that he was close enough to tell that she was aroused by Gray’s touch even if Gray had no clue. She sent up a little prayer that Laxus wouldn’t just beat the shit out of her unknowing pawn. “Didn’t anyone ever teach you to keep your hands to yourself?” Laxus asked Gray.

“Fuck off.” Cana told him before Gray could say anything. “I asked him.”

“Man, I knew you had a reputation but I never thought you would let a naked guy rub on you in public like this.” She could hear the forced laughter in his voice. She looked over at Gray and noticed that, somehow, he was naked once again.

“Whoa! Gray, clothes!” She snapped at him and sat up, putting some distance between them as Gray cursed and looked for where his clothes had gone. Laxus was laughing behind him. The laughter died down when Gray had clothed himself again. Laxus’ eyes were burning with barely controlled rage and jealousy. Cana got up and stretched out her muscles, making a point to moan loudly and push her breast out. “I’m going to get a drink. Gray you can start on Lucy.” She said and started to walk away before throwing over her shoulder, “Try to keep your pants on this time.” Causing him and Lucy to blush.

Laxus didn’t even try and hide the fact he was following Cana this time as they headed back down to their room for the fourth time this trip. He pushed her against the wall and snarled at her. “What was that?”

“If you’re not going to give me what I need, I’ll get it elsewhere.” She told him. She was ready for the desire that flowed over her and hardly even reacted this time. “I can only take so much, Laxus.” She was trying to get her hand behind herself without him noticing, this caused her to wiggle her body against his.

He groaned at her movement. “Dragon’s don’t share.”

“You’re not a dragon and you don’t have a claim on me.” She told him. He wrapped one of his hands around her neck and pulled her into a rough kiss. When his hand brushed against the mark on her neck she could, once again, feel his emotions. He felt strongly possessive of her, jealous of Gray, and deep down she could feel he was scared but she couldn’t understand why that might be.

“I’m a Dragon-Slayer and your my _mate_.” He growled against her lips. His words surprised him, he hadn’t meant to say them out loud. He took a half step back to try and clear his mind and get control over his inner dragon. That was the opening Cana needed. She pulled a card out from behind her and activated the magic before tossing it to the ground behind Laxus. Ropes came out from the card and wrapped around his arms and pulled him down onto the ground. Laxus was now spread out on the floor with his arms over his head where he was unable to move them due to her magic.

Cana smiled down at her handy work. Laxus’ slim control on his inner dragon was snapped when he was tied down. He tried to pull at the ropes holding him, testing the strength. He gave her a predatory look as he watched her strip down before straddling his lap.

“What are you going to do?” Laxus asked as he looked up at her. His voice sounded rough even to his ears and his breathing was uneven.

“I’m taking what I want.” Cana said before roughly pulling his pants down. She lined herself up with him before impaling herself. Cana knew she wouldn’t last long as she rode him. His magic started to fill the air and electricity flowed over Cana’s body. This wasn’t the same as when he was angry, this felt more like a caress. She leaned down to kiss Laxus mostly to muffle the noises she was making as his magic licked across her nipples.

Laxus was letting Cana have control of everything up until their lips met. He forcefully took control of the kiss exploring every inch of her mouth before kissing along her jaw to the sensitive spot behind her ear. He licked and nibbled there with his fangs before working his way down her throat and across her collarbone. He found a spot there that had Cana bucking her hips and calling out his name. He could feel her inner muscles tightening around him and knew she was getting close. He bit down on that sensitive spot at the same time his magic licked across her clit. Cana bit down onto his shoulder to suppress her screams as she came apart into a million pieces. It was the most intense orgasm that she had ever had. Her muscles clamped around Laxus, milking him as he found his own release.

Cana slowly came down from her high, collapsing onto Laxus’s chest. She had just enough mental energy to remember to release him from her magic. She laid on Laxus’ mostly clothed body, floating between awake and sleep. She was mildly annoyed by the fabric that was between her and his skin but she couldn’t care enough to remove it. Laxus wrapped his arms around her and lightly drew circles on her back as he held her. She wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that but eventually Cana acknowledged the fact that they would have to get up before someone came looking for them.

Cana sat up and stretched out. Laxus smiled his cocky little smile at her until he caught sight of the fresh bite he had given her that was quickly bruising. It had been almost two years since Laxus had made a habit of biting her and now he had done so three times in two days when there was almost no way to hide it. What was wrong with him? _Fuck_ He thought to himself.

“So are we going to talk about the mate thing?” Cana asked him in an offhand tone but her eyes were watching him closely.

 _Fuck!_  

 


	8. Worse Guild in Fiore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m skipping the infinity clock arc from the anime because, honestly, I don’t like it and it would add nothing to this story. As a matter of fact it will screw up the timeline I have going. I am also finally going to be diverting from cannon, in small ways at first until we get to the end of the GMG then it’s going completely off the tracks. I hope you are all enjoying this and enjoy where I take it.

“So are we going to talk about the mate thing?” Cana asked him in an offhand tone but her eyes were watching him closely.

 _Fuck!_ Laxus did not want to talk about this. He didn’t even know why he had said that before. He tried to buy time as he straightened his clothes and ran his hand through his hair.

“I’m waiting.” Cana said when it looked like he wasn’t going to answer. She had already put her bikini back on, not that it covered much. She had placed herself between him and the door in an attempt to keep him leaving.

He sighed, “That’s a long story.”

“I’m not going anywhere. Gajeel keeps using that term and now you are using it. What does it even mean?” Cana was angry and frustrated. Gajeel had never been willing to give her answers to the whole mate thing.

“I don’t know what it means. He just used it and it got stuck in my head.” Laxus told her, leaning against the wall. “It didn’t mean anything.”

Cana didn’t really believe that. She didn’t understand what was with these Dragon-Slayers and their secrets. This was clearly something that was affecting him, and their relationship. She wished that he could just talk about things with her. “Laxus, what are we doing?”

“Currently, talking.” He chuckled, trying to lighten the mood but it failed. “We fuck. I think it’s called friends with benefits.”

“It’s been three years of this. You’re not starting to feel … bored?” That wasn’t what she had wanted to ask. She wanted to know if he felt … more. She was feeling more for him, she didn’t know what but it was … more.

“No, I’ve been sticking with you because you’re actually able to keep up with me. There’s not many girls out there that can match a Dragon-Slayers stamina.” He looked sideways at her “Why?”

Cana wrapped her arms around herself. “It’s nothing,”

 _It’s not nothing_ He thought. Laxus walked over and touched the mark he left, causing her to moan lightly. “Do you have anything that can cover this?”

“If I don’t?” She asked, looking up at him. She saw the look of panic in his eyes. Three years later and he was still worried about the guild finding out about them. Hell there was at least four people up on deck that knew about them, assuming that his team hadn’t figured things out themselves. “Have Lucy bring my bag down, I have a shirt that should cover it. If you don’t want anyone to see it.”

“I don’t.” He said sternly. He went back up on deck and asked Lucy to take Cana her bag. Cana didn’t say anything to Lucy when she came down, just put on some clothes. This was probably the worse walk of shame Cana had ever had, and she had a lot of them.

The rest of the trip back to Magnolia was mostly uneventful. Laxus seemed to be avoiding Cana but it could just be in her head. When they got back to Magnolia they learned a lot of things had changed in the last seven years. The first thing they had to deal with was Twilight Ogre. After that had been settled Gildarts was excited to share his happy news with the rest of the guild. Everyone was surprised that Cana was his daughter and she was extremely embarrassed with how he was fawning over her but in truth she didn’t mind too much. It was a nice change from the cold shoulder that Laxus was giving her. And with Laxus hanging around the guild again Gajeel seemed scared to go anywhere near her. Lucy had left town to go see her father and Levi was off on a translation job she found seeing all the girls had to pay back seven years of rent in Fairy Hills. Cana was alone and it sucked.

Things only got worse when they found out that Fairy Tail was now considered the worst guild in Fiore. They truly were nothing but the laughing stock of the wizarding community and it didn’t sit well with anyone. When Laxus heard the news he got up and walked right out of the guildhall, making some comment about not wanting to hang with losers. His team tried to go after him but he brushed them off. Cana went after him once the awkwardness in the guild faded and she could leave without being noticed.

Cana found him in the forest that surrounded the new guildhall. He had his back to her but she could tell he was angry because his magic was surrounding him. This was what he had always worried about happening to the guild and it happened while he was gone. Cana was worried about what he might do, after all he didn’t handle things very well the last time. She wasn’t expecting the reaction she got when she reached out to touch him though. Laxus spun around and shot out a Lighting Dragon: Roar in her direction before she got close. The impact threw her back and into a tree.

Cana’s head exploded in pain from where it hit the tree behind her. The attack had mostly hit her right shoulder and upper side of her chest. That pain was unbearable and she wasn’t able to feel that side or move her arm. This was the first time she had ever felt his full strength and it was terrifying. “Laxus, it’s me!” She yelled at him. She tried to get up but her head throbbed and her vision started to spot. She sat back down quickly before she got sick.

“What are you doing here, Cana?” He snapped at her. He tried to get his magic back under his control. He should have been able to smell or hear her approaching but he hadn’t until she was right on top of him. At that point he lashed out without knowing who was even there. His eyes went to the bleeding burn on her shoulder. It was bad and he could smell the burnt flesh. _Fuck, I’ve hurt her again. Why can’t I control this around her?_ He thought.

“What do you think?! Fuck that hurts!” Cana yelled at him the best she could but it was hard to take a deep breath. Damn everything hurt right then. She was having trouble breathing and her vision was still spotty. She was trying to find a way to sit that didn’t hurt buy every movement caused her breath to catch in pain.

The dragon inside him was fighting to come to the surface, its mate was injured and it needed to protect her. It didn’t matter that he was the one that injured her to begin with, he wanted revenge. It was hard for Laxus to remain in control but he did. “Stay here, I’ll go get Wendy, she will be able to help you.” Before Cana could say anything he ran back to the guildhall.

Cana swore to herself she was never going to try and comfort Laxus again, not if this is what she was going to get in return. She wasn’t sure how long she was sitting there before Laxus came back with Wendy in toe. She didn’t even really care what he had said to get the girl to follow him, she was just happy she was there. Laxus seemed to be in control on himself again so that was a good thing.

“What happened?” Wendy ran to Cana and laid her down on her back. “This looks really bad.”

“Sparing accident.” Laxus lied easily to her.

Cana glared at him before closing her eyes. “It really fucking hurts. Can you help Wendy?”

“I’ll do my best.” Wendy laid her hands over Cana, her magic glowing under them. “But if this was Dragon-Slayer magic I don’t know how much I can help.”

Cana felt herself relaxing as the pain started to subside some. Wendy really was a miracle worker sometimes. It took a while but Wendy was able to heal most of the damage. Cana’s head wasn’t hurting anymore and she could feel her arm again. There was a shiny scar covering her right shoulder and it still stung but other than that she was back to normal. Cana sat up with Wendy’s help and tested out her arm. It hurt to move and her shoulder felt tight. She didn’t have full range of motion but it might be better with time.

Laxus reached his hand out to help Cana up but she flinched away from him. He couldn’t blame her but it still made him angry. “I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“Sorry if I don’t take you at your word.” Cana got up with Wendy’s help. “Thank you Wendy. I need to talk with _my mate_ alone.” She used the title just so she could make Laxus uncomfortable. “I’ll see you tonight at Fairy Hills.”

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Wendy was looking worriedly between the couple. Cana nodded and smiled at her to reassure the young girl. She didn’t want the child to worry about her. Laxus was in control again and Cana trusted him not to hurt her now.

Cana waited until they were alone before saying anything. “I came to see if you wanted to talk about the guild.”

“I would rather not.” Laxus tried to reach out and touch the scar Cana now had but she moved away again. “I keep hurting you.”

“I’ve noticed.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Ever think about stopping that?”

Laxus flinched at the tone of her voice. He had been thinking a lot over the last few days, since they got back to Magnolia, about a lot of things. He had thought he had control over his inner dragon while he had been away from Fairy Tail. He had even been working with it during the fight with Hades. It wasn’t until he was around Cana again that they started to butt heads, as it were, and he was starting to figure out why. His inner dragon saw Cana as his. It would be jealous, controlling, and protective to the point he would kill for her. Laxus didn’t feel that way. He liked Cana, sure, but she was just his friends. It was that disagreement that was causing problems. His inner dragon was nothing but the negative emotions that he was constantly trying to keep controlled and being around Cana made that difficult.

“Maybe we should just stop.” Laxus told her. “I mean, it’s been fun but clearly this is not working anymore.”

Cana didn’t know how she felt right then. She was stunned. This isn’t what she meant to have happen at all. Her chest hurt at his words and she couldn’t breathe again. She was angry at him for what happened but did she want to have him leave. She couldn’t think of a reason for him to stay though, other than the feelings she had for him. It might be better for her health if they did stop. “That’s not really what I was talking about.”

“Look, I don’t like people knowing too much about my personal life. Too many people know about this now. Besides if we stop then you don’t have to worry about me and I won’t hurt you anymore. Problem solved.” His inner dragon was pissed at him right then. It was screaming that he couldn’t take his mate from him. He wouldn’t let it change his decision. He would be leaving Magnolia again soon anyways, best to just end everything.

“I guess.” Cana shook her head and forced herself to put on a carefree expression. “I’m going to kinda miss it, you were better than most.”

Laxus chuckled and smirked at her. “I was the best and you know it.”

Cana just shrugged at him and left to go back to Fairy Hills. Somewhere on the way she started crying. This had been a really hard day and she really just needed to go home, get drunk, and have a good cry.

It was the next day when Makarov called for everyone to meet at the guildhall, he had an announcement he wanted to make. Cana was wearing one of the few tee shirts she owned. She didn’t want anyone to see the new scar she had and start asking questions. She would just wait a while and say she got it out on a mission in a few months. Laxus was in the guildhall with the rest of his old team. Cana felt tightening in her chest when she saw him but she ignored it and went to stand with Levi and Lucy who had returned that morning.

“The time has come kids. I’ve done all I can in service to this guild. Allow me to introduce Fairy Tail’s next master.” Makarov told them. Macao was already getting started on his acceptance speech and Wakaba told him to shut up, making everyone laugh. Makarov waited until everyone calmed down before continuing. “Without further ado, the fifth master of Fairy Tail, Gildarts Clive.” He waved his hand over to the bar.

Mira was standing there looking awkward with a smile on her face. Gildarts wasn’t there or anywhere to be seen. “Where the hell is Gildarts?” Makarov asked.

“I’m not sure, but he left us a note.” Mira said before walking over to Makarov and handing him a letter from Gildarts. Makarov opened it and began reading it out loud to the guild.

_To Makarov and all of my Fairy Tail family. I’m sorry. Being master of the guild just ain’t my style. But since I have the rare opportunity to be in charge for a bit, there are two things I want to get done. First I hereby reinstate Laxus as a member of Fairy Tail._

There was a moment of silence while everyone looked at Laxus. “He’s got some kind of nerve.” Makarov shouted.

The Thunder Legion started celebrating, hugging Laxus. Bickslow and his babies were welcoming Laxus back. Evergreen was excited that the team was going to be back together again. Freed was crying and thanking Gildarts. Laxus gave appropriate responses when he felt they were needed. This was not what he expected to ever happen. He never would have imagined being a part of Fairy Tail again. He was happy he would be with his friends again but it also meant he would have to be around Cana more than he planned.

 _And second I hereby appoint Makarov Dreyar as Fairy Tail’s sixth master._ Makarov continued reading the letter, complaining about how he wanted to retire when he was reappointed as master. _It’s time for me to hit the road again. But don’t worry, I’ll come back around when the mood strikes me. Take care everybody. Fairy Tail will always be my true home, that will never change. And I believe with all my heart that we’ll be number one guild in Fiore by the time I return. But getting us back on top isn’t my responsibility. It’s up to you guys. Makarov, that will be your final task as master. I’m counting on you to bring Fairy Tail back to its former glory._

“What does that lumbering fool mean my ‘final task’? After that stunt he pulled, I’ll never let anyone else be master! I’ll be this damn guild’s master til the day I die!” Makarov complained.

Mira walked over to Cana and handed her an envelope. “This is for you.”

Cana opened it. Inside was a letter and a magic card that had a picture of Gildarts on it and said “Call Gildarts”. Cana read the note to herself. _To my Dear Cana. I’m sure you probably think I’m being selfish. And maybe you’re right. But if you ever need me, just use this card to get in touch. I’ll come running back as fast as I can, I promise._

“Are you freaking kidding me? I told you I would be fine without you. Ya deadbeat dad.” She went to tear up the card he had left but two large hands stopped her. She looked up to see that Laxus was the one holding her wrist, keeping her from destroying the card.

“You might want to reach out to him someday.” He told her in explanation.

“I won’t.” She tried to pull away from Laxus but he wouldn’t let her.

“Would it hurt to just keep it around?”

Cana didn’t like the attention she was getting and really wanted him to let her go. “Fine, I’ll keep the stupid thing. I’m not going to use it though.” She told him. He let her go and she was able to put the card in her back pocket. After that the celebration started to welcome Laxus back to the guild.

It was during this celebration when Romeo mentioned knowing a way to get Fairy Tail back to being the number one guild in Fiore. The rest of the guild was set against this and it took some work to get them to explain what the idea was. The yearly Grand Magic Games. Fairy Tail had competed before and failed miserably every single time. After it was mentioned that there was a thirty million jewel award for the winning team, Makarov decided that they would be competing. The only problem was that everyone on Tenrou Island had missed out on seven years of training and were nowhere near ready for this kind of competition. To make matters more urgent was the Games were only three months away.

The next day everyone left to go train. Laxus left with his team. Gajeel, Panther Lily, and Levy went to train together. Levy got a little hazing for that but just explained that they were partners and that was the only reason she was going with him. Team Natsu, Juvia, Wendy, and Cana all went to the beach to train together. Cana had went with the girls just so she could distract herself from Laxus.

The first day of training went great. Cana was already feeling stronger the next day and everyone else seemed to agree. Cana had also managed to, mostly, forget about Laxus and their kind of breakup. Cana didn’t know what else to call it really but mostly she just ignored it. She was careful to keep her shoulder covered while she was around the others and was training off on her own. She didn’t want anyone, especially Lucy, to see it and ask questions. About halfway into day two there was an unexpected visitor.

“Princess! Terrible news!” Virgo popped up out of nowhere right under Lucy in the sand. The Spirit was in her normal maid outfit and in a chipper mood given the fact she said she had terrible news. That was just Virgo though.

“Would you please watch where you pop up?” Lucy complained as she got off Virgo and onto her feet. The rest of the group gathered to see what Virgo had to say.

“Do you want to punish me?” She seemed way too excited at the idea of being punished. Cana liked the odd spirit for the most part.

“No thanks.” Happy said at Cana’s feet.

“I will.” Cana offered and laughed at how excited Virgo looked.

“Did you need something, Virgo?” Gray asked, refocusing the Spirt to the issue at hand.

Virgo folded her hands in front of her and looked at the ground, looking worried and it showed in her voice as well. “The Celestial World is on the brink of destruction. I beg you, we really need Fairy Tail’s help right now.”

“That’s horrible” Erza said

“Is there anything we can do?” Cana asked her.

“I’ve been asked to bring you to our world at once. The king would like to explain the situation to you himself.” Virgo told them.

“Alight then, you lead the way Virgo! If our friends need help we won’t let them down!” Natsu was all fired up to go help Virgo. He had been to the Celestial World once before if only for a second.

“I thought humans weren’t able to enter the Celestial World.” Cana remembered Lucy mentioning that before.

“Well there is one way in which it’s possible, Master.” Virgo said to Cana. Cana approved of the new nickname. “You’ll simply have to wear Celestial Spirit garments. Here we go.”

Before anyone could argue they found themselves in the Celestial World in new clothes. It was only once they were there that they found out this was actually a party to celebrate their return from Tanrou Island. Everyone was more than happy to celebrate, they were Fairy Tail wizards after all. Cana spent her day drinking and flirting with Loke. Virgo was trying to get Cana to follow through on punishing her. At one point Scorpio tried to hit on Cana too but after Juvia and Aquarius glared at them from across the room Cana figured that meant he was off limits. It turned out to be a wonderful way to waste a day.

They all gathered together at the end of the day to head back to Earthland. “Alright guys, we’ve had our fun, now it’s time for us to get back to the beach and train for the Grand Magic Games.” Natsu reminded them.

“Right on!” Gray agreed. “We’re in a good place because we still have three months to catch up to the other guilds.”

“Fairy Tail is going to take Sabertooth down!” Happy cheered,

Cana didn’t want to go back to the real world just yet. She had been enjoying the break but now that they were getting ready to leave she was starting to think of Laxus again. What would he say to her flirting with Loke? Would he care seeing he had broken things off? She felt guilty and she hated that she cared what he might think.

“Oh. There’s something I probably should have mentioned before we came here.” Virgo told them. “In our world time flows a bit differently than it does in yours.”

“Wait, are you serious? I bet it moves slower so a year in your world is the same as a day back home, huh?” Natsu assumed, already getting excited.

“If that’s true then we should do all of our training here.” Gray agreed, not even waiting to hear Virgo finish explaining.

“Not quite.” Virgo looked a little sheepish. “It moves faster. You see, just one day in the Celestial Spirit World is the same as three whole months in the human world.”

Right after Virgo finished speaking they were sent back to Earthland as her words sank in. Three months? That meant the Games would be starting soon. “Virgo! Get back here so I can kill you!” Cana yelled at the air. She was going to do more than punish the spirt, she was going to torture her.

Virgo did not reappear for Cana though. The whole group was in shock that they had lost almost all their time. They only had four days before the games, they came to learn.

“Well, I’m going back to the guild. I didn’t want to compete in this stupid thing anyways. See you all later.” Cana told the group before getting her things and heading back to Magnolia.

Two days before the Games Makarov asked Cana to meet him in his office. When she walked in it was a full house. There was Juvia, who had just returned that day, Mira, Gajeel, Laxus, and Mystogan. Cana wasn’t happy to be around Laxus, she was still really upset about the breakup. Laxus had three months to get over Cana and it had seemed he had. He was giving her the cold shoulder pretty well anyways. It was seeing Mystogan that surprised Cana though.

Cana’s scent was back to normal, thankfully for Laxus. He was better able to focus with that. He had been training hard over the last three months and he was finally feeling like he had control over his inner dragon. Even now the beast seemed to be sleeping and ignoring the fact that Cana was so close. Maybe it had finally given up on claiming her as his mate. That didn’t mean he wanted to tempt it by having her involved in his grandfather’s crazy plan.

“What is he doing here?” She asked, pointing at Mystogan.

“I’m not working with her.” Laxus said at the same time.

“You can’t have those two on the same team!” Gajeel’s complaint was the loudest of them all.

Mira giggled. “I think there’s something they’re not telling us.” She whispered to Juvia.

“Juvia wishes to be on a team with her beloved Gray.” Juvia complained.

“That’s enough!” Makarov yelled. The room went silent. “Whatever issues you may have with each other I suggest you get over them. I am trusting the five of you with an important mission and I will not have your personal issues interfering.” Makarov waited for them all to apologize before he continued. “I’m sure you are all wondering about Mystogan’s presence and how he is here in Earthland.”

“He’s not Mystogan.” Laxus said like it was obvious, which it was to him. He didn’t smell anything like Mystogan and the old man was lucky that Laxus was the only Dragon-Slayer that knew what the real Mystogan smelled like. “It’s the real Jellal. We harboring fugitives now, old man?”

“I have my reasons, boy” Makarov was still not happy to have Laxus back in the guild and didn’t need him questioning orders. “I am ordering the five of you to help keep _Mystogan’s_ cover during the Games.” He put emphases on the name to make it clear they were not to refer to Jellal by his true name. “Laxus, Mira, Juvia, and Gajeel will be on Fairy Tail’s team with Mystogan. Cana I need you to be the reserve member to fill in if Mystogan is unable to compete due to his mission.”

“And what mission is that?” Gajeel asked.

Jellal stepped forward at that point. He explained about the strange magic they had felt gathering at the Games every year. He was going to use his place on the Fairy Tail team to get into the Games and try to figure out where this magic was coming from. He swore to them that he would not put the guild in danger. After he explained everything everyone but Mira didn’t seem happy with this idea.

“You will never pass as Mystogan.” Laxus stated matter-of-factly.

“I just want to fight someone.” Gajeel didn’t care one way or another.

“Juvia is worried about this.” Juvia looked worried too. “But if Master says to, Juvia will protect this man.”

“Why am I getting dragged into this?” Cana was no stronger than before Tenrou, she didn’t belong on this team.

“I think this will be fun.” Mira said with a smile on her face.

“This isn’t a discussion. Now go. I’ll see you all in Crocus in two days.” Makarov told them and that was the end of that.


	9. Worst Guild in Fiore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m skipping the infinity clock arc from the anime because, honestly, I don’t like it and it would add nothing to this story. As a matter of fact it will screw up the timeline I have going. I am also finally going to be diverting from cannon, in small ways at first until we get to the end of the GMG then it’s going completely off the tracks. I hope you are all enjoying this and enjoy where I take it

“So are we going to talk about the mate thing?” Cana asked him in an offhand tone but her eyes were watching him closely.

 _Fuck!_ Laxus did not want to talk about this. He didn’t even know why he had said that before. He tried to buy time as he straightened his clothes and ran his hand through his hair.

“I’m waiting.” Cana said when it looked like he wasn’t going to answer. She had already put her bikini back on, not that it covered much. She had placed herself between him and the door in an attempt to keep him leaving.

He sighed, “That’s a long story.”

“I’m not going anywhere. Gajeel keeps using that term and now you are using it. What does it even mean?” Cana was angry and frustrated. Gajeel had never been willing to give her answers to the whole mate thing.

“I don’t know what it means. He just used it and it got stuck in my head.” Laxus told her, leaning against the wall. “It didn’t mean anything.”

Cana didn’t really believe that. She didn’t understand what was with these Dragon-Slayers and their secrets. This was clearly something that was affecting him, and their relationship. She wished that he could just talk about things with her. “Laxus, what are we doing?”

“Currently, talking.” He chuckled, trying to lighten the mood but it failed. “We fuck. I think it’s called friends with benefits.”

“It’s been three years of this. You’re not starting to feel … bored?” That wasn’t what she had wanted to ask. She wanted to know if he felt … more. She was feeling more for him, she didn’t know what but it was … more.

“No, I’ve been sticking with you because you’re actually able to keep up with me. There’s not many girls out there that can match a Dragon-Slayers stamina.” He looked sideways at her “Why?”

Cana wrapped her arms around herself. “It’s nothing,”

 _It’s not nothing_ He thought. Laxus walked over and touched the mark he left, causing her to moan lightly. “Do you have anything that can cover this?”

“If I don’t?” She asked, looking up at him. She saw the look of panic in his eyes. Three years later and he was still worried about the guild finding out about them. Hell there was at least four people up on deck that knew about them, assuming that his team hadn’t figured things out themselves. “Have Lucy bring my bag down, I have a shirt that should cover it. If you don’t want anyone to see it.”

“I don’t.” He said sternly. He went back up on deck and asked Lucy to take Cana her bag. Cana didn’t say anything to Lucy when she came down, just put on some clothes. This was probably the worse walk of shame Cana had ever had, and she had a lot of them.

The rest of the trip back to Magnolia was mostly uneventful. Laxus seemed to be avoiding Cana but it could just be in her head. When they got back to Magnolia they learned a lot of things had changed in the last seven years. The first thing they had to deal with was Twilight Ogre. After that had been settled Gildarts was excited to share his happy news with the rest of the guild. Everyone was surprised that Cana was his daughter and she was extremely embarrassed with how he was fawning over her but in truth she didn’t mind too much. It was a nice change from the cold shoulder that Laxus was giving her. And with Laxus hanging around the guild again Gajeel seemed scared to go anywhere near her. Lucy had left town to go see her father and Levi was off on a translation job she found seeing all the girls had to pay back seven years of rent in Fairy Hills. Cana was alone and it sucked.

Things only got worse when they found out that Fairy Tail was now considered the worst guild in Fiore. They truly were nothing but the laughing stock of the wizarding community and it didn’t sit well with anyone. When Laxus heard the news he got up and walked right out of the guildhall, making some comment about not wanting to hang with losers. His team tried to go after him but he brushed them off. Cana went after him once the awkwardness in the guild faded and she could leave without being noticed.

Cana found him in the forest that surrounded the new guildhall. He had his back to her but she could tell he was angry because his magic was surrounding him. This was what he had always worried about happening to the guild and it happened while he was gone. Cana was worried about what he might do, after all he didn’t handle things very well the last time. She wasn’t expecting the reaction she got when she reached out to touch him though. Laxus spun around and shot out a Lighting Dragon: Roar in her direction before she got close. The impact threw her back and into a tree.

Cana’s head exploded in pain from where it hit the tree behind her. The attack had mostly hit her right shoulder and upper side of her chest. That pain was unbearable and she wasn’t able to feel that side or move her arm. This was the first time she had ever felt his full strength and it was terrifying. “Laxus, it’s me!” She yelled at him. She tried to get up but her head throbbed and her vision started to spot. She sat back down quickly before she got sick.

“What are you doing here, Cana?” He snapped at her. He tried to get his magic back under his control. He should have been able to smell or hear her approaching but he hadn’t until she was right on top of him. At that point he lashed out without knowing who was even there. His eyes went to the bleeding burn on her shoulder. It was bad and he could smell the burnt flesh. _Fuck, I’ve hurt her again. Why can’t I control this around her?_ He thought.

“What do you think?! Fuck that hurts!” Cana yelled at him the best she could but it was hard to take a deep breath. Damn everything hurt right then. She was having trouble breathing and her vision was still spotty. She was trying to find a way to sit that didn’t hurt buy every movement caused her breath to catch in pain.

The dragon inside him was fighting to come to the surface, its mate was injured and it needed to protect her. It didn’t matter that he was the one that injured her to begin with, he wanted revenge. It was hard for Laxus to remain in control but he did. “Stay here, I’ll go get Wendy, she will be able to help you.” Before Cana could say anything he ran back to the guildhall.

Cana swore to herself she was never going to try and comfort Laxus again, not if this is what she was going to get in return. She wasn’t sure how long she was sitting there before Laxus came back with Wendy in toe. She didn’t even really care what he had said to get the girl to follow him, she was just happy she was there. Laxus seemed to be in control on himself again so that was a good thing.

“What happened?” Wendy ran to Cana and laid her down on her back. “This looks really bad.”

“Sparing accident.” Laxus lied easily to her.

Cana glared at him before closing her eyes. “It really fucking hurts. Can you help Wendy?”

“I’ll do my best.” Wendy laid her hands over Cana, her magic glowing under them. “But if this was Dragon-Slayer magic I don’t know how much I can help.”

Cana felt herself relaxing as the pain started to subside some. Wendy really was a miracle worker sometimes. It took a while but Wendy was able to heal most of the damage. Cana’s head wasn’t hurting anymore and she could feel her arm again. There was a shiny scar covering her right shoulder and it still stung but other than that she was back to normal. Cana sat up with Wendy’s help and tested out her arm. It hurt to move and her shoulder felt tight. She didn’t have full range of motion but it might be better with time.

Laxus reached his hand out to help Cana up but she flinched away from him. He couldn’t blame her but it still made him angry. “I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“Sorry if I don’t take you at your word.” Cana got up with Wendy’s help. “Thank you Wendy. I need to talk with _my mate_ alone.” She used the title just so she could make Laxus uncomfortable. “I’ll see you tonight at Fairy Hills.”

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Wendy was looking worriedly between the couple. Cana nodded and smiled at her to reassure the young girl. She didn’t want the child to worry about her. Laxus was in control again and Cana trusted him not to hurt her now.

Cana waited until they were alone before saying anything. “I came to see if you wanted to talk about the guild.”

“I would rather not.” Laxus tried to reach out and touch the scar Cana now had but she moved away again. “I keep hurting you.”

“I’ve noticed.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Ever think about stopping that?”

Laxus flinched at the tone of her voice. He had been thinking a lot over the last few days, since they got back to Magnolia, about a lot of things. He had thought he had control over his inner dragon while he had been away from Fairy Tail. He had even been working with it during the fight with Hades. It wasn’t until he was around Cana again that they started to butt heads, as it were, and he was starting to figure out why. His inner dragon saw Cana as his. It would be jealous, controlling, and protective to the point he would kill for her. Laxus didn’t feel that way. He liked Cana, sure, but she was just his friends. It was that disagreement that was causing problems. His inner dragon was nothing but the negative emotions that he was constantly trying to keep controlled and being around Cana made that difficult.

“Maybe we should just stop.” Laxus told her. “I mean, it’s been fun but clearly this is not working anymore.”

Cana didn’t know how she felt right then. She was stunned. This isn’t what she meant to have happen at all. Her chest hurt at his words and she couldn’t breathe again. She was angry at him for what happened but did she want to have him leave. She couldn’t think of a reason for him to stay though, other than the feelings she had for him. It might be better for her health if they did stop. “That’s not really what I was talking about.”

“Look, I don’t like people knowing too much about my personal life. Too many people know about this now. Besides if we stop then you don’t have to worry about me and I won’t hurt you anymore. Problem solved.” His inner dragon was pissed at him right then. It was screaming that he couldn’t take his mate from him. He wouldn’t let it change his decision. He would be leaving Magnolia again soon anyways, best to just end everything.

“I guess.” Cana shook her head and forced herself to put on a carefree expression. “I’m going to kinda miss it, you were better than most.”

Laxus chuckled and smirked at her. “I was the best and you know it.”

Cana just shrugged at him and left to go back to Fairy Hills. Somewhere on the way she started crying. This had been a really hard day and she really just needed to go home, get drunk, and have a good cry.

It was the next day when Makarov called for everyone to meet at the guildhall, he had an announcement he wanted to make. Cana was wearing one of the few tee shirts she owned. She didn’t want anyone to see the new scar she had and start asking questions. She would just wait a while and say she got it out on a mission in a few months. Laxus was in the guildhall with the rest of his old team. Cana felt tightening in her chest when she saw him but she ignored it and went to stand with Levi and Lucy who had returned that morning.

“The time has come kids. I’ve done all I can in service to this guild. Allow me to introduce Fairy Tail’s next master.” Makarov told them. Macao was already getting started on his acceptance speech and Wakaba told him to shut up, making everyone laugh. Makarov waited until everyone calmed down before continuing. “Without further ado, the fifth master of Fairy Tail, Gildarts Clive.” He waved his hand over to the bar.

Mira was standing there looking awkward with a smile on her face. Gildarts wasn’t there or anywhere to be seen. “Where the hell is Gildarts?” Makarov asked.

“I’m not sure, but he left us a note.” Mira said before walking over to Makarov and handing him a letter from Gildarts. Makarov opened it and began reading it out loud to the guild.

_To Makarov and all of my Fairy Tail family. I’m sorry. Being master of the guild just ain’t my style. But since I have the rare opportunity to be in charge for a bit, there are two things I want to get done. First I hereby reinstate Laxus as a member of Fairy Tail._

There was a moment of silence while everyone looked at Laxus. “He’s got some kind of nerve.” Makarov shouted.

The Thunder Legion started celebrating, hugging Laxus. Bickslow and his babies were welcoming Laxus back. Evergreen was excited that the team was going to be back together again. Freed was crying and thanking Gildarts. Laxus gave appropriate responses when he felt they were needed. This was not what he expected to ever happen. He never would have imagined being a part of Fairy Tail again. He was happy he would be with his friends again but it also meant he would have to be around Cana more than he planned.

 _And second I hereby appoint Makarov Dreyar as Fairy Tail’s sixth master._ Makarov continued reading the letter, complaining about how he wanted to retire when he was reappointed as master. _It’s time for me to hit the road again. But don’t worry, I’ll come back around when the mood strikes me. Take care everybody. Fairy Tail will always be my true home, that will never change. And I believe with all my heart that we’ll be number one guild in Fiore by the time I return. But getting us back on top isn’t my responsibility. It’s up to you guys. Makarov, that will be your final task as master. I’m counting on you to bring Fairy Tail back to its former glory._

“What does that lumbering fool mean my ‘final task’? After that stunt he pulled, I’ll never let anyone else be master! I’ll be this damn guild’s master til the day I die!” Makarov complained.

Mira walked over to Cana and handed her an envelope. “This is for you.”

Cana opened it. Inside was a letter and a magic card that had a picture of Gildarts on it and said “Call Gildarts”. Cana read the note to herself. _To my Dear Cana. I’m sure you probably think I’m being selfish. And maybe you’re right. But if you ever need me, just use this card to get in touch. I’ll come running back as fast as I can, I promise._

“Are you freaking kidding me? I told you I would be fine without you. Ya deadbeat dad.” She went to tear up the card he had left but two large hands stopped her. She looked up to see that Laxus was the one holding her wrist, keeping her from destroying the card.

“You might want to reach out to him someday.” He told her in explanation.

“I won’t.” She tried to pull away from Laxus but he wouldn’t let her.

“Would it hurt to just keep it around?”

Cana didn’t like the attention she was getting and really wanted him to let her go. “Fine, I’ll keep the stupid thing. I’m not going to use it though.” She told him. He let her go and she was able to put the card in her back pocket. After that the celebration started to welcome Laxus back to the guild.

It was during this celebration when Romeo mentioned knowing a way to get Fairy Tail back to being the number one guild in Fiore. The rest of the guild was set against this and it took some work to get them to explain what the idea was. The yearly Grand Magic Games. Fairy Tail had competed before and failed miserably every single time. After it was mentioned that there was a thirty million jewel award for the winning team, Makarov decided that they would be competing. The only problem was that everyone on Tenrou Island had missed out on seven years of training and were nowhere near ready for this kind of competition. To make matters more urgent was the Games were only three months away.

The next day everyone left to go train. Laxus left with his team. Gajeel, Panther Lily, and Levy went to train together. Levy got a little hazing for that but just explained that they were partners and that was the only reason she was going with him. Team Natsu, Juvia, Wendy, and Cana all went to the beach to train together. Cana had went with the girls just so she could distract herself from Laxus.

The first day of training went great. Cana was already feeling stronger the next day and everyone else seemed to agree. Cana had also managed to, mostly, forget about Laxus and their kind of breakup. Cana didn’t know what else to call it really but mostly she just ignored it. She was careful to keep her shoulder covered while she was around the others and was training off on her own. She didn’t want anyone, especially Lucy, to see it and ask questions. About halfway into day two there was an unexpected visitor.

“Princess! Terrible news!” Virgo popped up out of nowhere right under Lucy in the sand. The Spirit was in her normal maid outfit and in a chipper mood given the fact she said she had terrible news. That was just Virgo though.

“Would you please watch where you pop up?” Lucy complained as she got off Virgo and onto her feet. The rest of the group gathered to see what Virgo had to say.

“Do you want to punish me?” She seemed way too excited at the idea of being punished. Cana liked the odd spirit for the most part.

“No thanks.” Happy said at Cana’s feet.

“I will.” Cana offered and laughed at how excited Virgo looked.

“Did you need something, Virgo?” Gray asked, refocusing the Spirt to the issue at hand.

Virgo folded her hands in front of her and looked at the ground, looking worried and it showed in her voice as well. “The Celestial World is on the brink of destruction. I beg you, we really need Fairy Tail’s help right now.”

“That’s horrible” Erza said

“Is there anything we can do?” Cana asked her.

“I’ve been asked to bring you to our world at once. The king would like to explain the situation to you himself.” Virgo told them.

“Alight then, you lead the way Virgo! If our friends need help we won’t let them down!” Natsu was all fired up to go help Virgo. He had been to the Celestial World once before if only for a second.

“I thought humans weren’t able to enter the Celestial World.” Cana remembered Lucy mentioning that before.

“Well there is one way in which it’s possible, Master.” Virgo said to Cana. Cana approved of the new nickname. “You’ll simply have to wear Celestial Spirit garments. Here we go.”

Before anyone could argue they found themselves in the Celestial World in new clothes. It was only once they were there that they found out this was actually a party to celebrate their return from Tanrou Island. Everyone was more than happy to celebrate, they were Fairy Tail wizards after all. Cana spent her day drinking and flirting with Loke. Virgo was trying to get Cana to follow through on punishing her. At one point Scorpio tried to hit on Cana too but after Juvia and Aquarius glared at them from across the room Cana figured that meant he was off limits. It turned out to be a wonderful way to waste a day.

They all gathered together at the end of the day to head back to Earthland. “Alright guys, we’ve had our fun, now it’s time for us to get back to the beach and train for the Grand Magic Games.” Natsu reminded them.

“Right on!” Gray agreed. “We’re in a good place because we still have three months to catch up to the other guilds.”

“Fairy Tail is going to take Sabertooth down!” Happy cheered,

Cana didn’t want to go back to the real world just yet. She had been enjoying the break but now that they were getting ready to leave she was starting to think of Laxus again. What would he say to her flirting with Loke? Would he care seeing he had broken things off? She felt guilty and she hated that she cared what he might think.

“Oh. There’s something I probably should have mentioned before we came here.” Virgo told them. “In our world time flows a bit differently than it does in yours.”

“Wait, are you serious? I bet it moves slower so a year in your world is the same as a day back home, huh?” Natsu assumed, already getting excited.

“If that’s true then we should do all of our training here.” Gray agreed, not even waiting to hear Virgo finish explaining.

“Not quite.” Virgo looked a little sheepish. “It moves faster. You see, just one day in the Celestial Spirit World is the same as three whole months in the human world.”

Right after Virgo finished speaking they were sent back to Earthland as her words sank in. Three months? That meant the Games would be starting soon. “Virgo! Get back here so I can kill you!” Cana yelled at the air. She was going to do more than punish the spirt, she was going to torture her.

Virgo did not reappear for Cana though. The whole group was in shock that they had lost almost all their time. They only had four days before the games, they came to learn.

“Well, I’m going back to the guild. I didn’t want to compete in this stupid thing anyways. See you all later.” Cana told the group before getting her things and heading back to Magnolia.

Two days before the Games Makarov asked Cana to meet him in his office. When she walked in it was a full house. There was Juvia, who had just returned that day, Mira, Gajeel, Laxus, and Mystogan. Cana wasn’t happy to be around Laxus, she was still really upset about the breakup. Laxus had three months to get over Cana and it had seemed he had. He was giving her the cold shoulder pretty well anyways. It was seeing Mystogan that surprised Cana though.

Cana’s scent was back to normal, thankfully for Laxus. He was better able to focus with that. He had been training hard over the last three months and he was finally feeling like he had control over his inner dragon. Even now the beast seemed to be sleeping and ignoring the fact that Cana was so close. Maybe it had finally given up on claiming her as his mate. That didn’t mean he wanted to tempt it by having her involved in his grandfather’s crazy plan.

“What is he doing here?” She asked, pointing at Mystogan.

“I’m not working with her.” Laxus said at the same time.

“You can’t have those two on the same team!” Gajeel’s complaint was the loudest of them all.

Mira giggled. “I think there’s something they’re not telling us.” She whispered to Juvia.

“Juvia wishes to be on a team with her beloved Gray.” Juvia complained.

“That’s enough!” Makarov yelled. The room went silent. “Whatever issues you may have with each other I suggest you get over them. I am trusting the five of you with an important mission and I will not have your personal issues interfering.” Makarov waited for them all to apologize before he continued. “I’m sure you are all wondering about Mystogan’s presence and how he is here in Earthland.”

“He’s not Mystogan.” Laxus said like it was obvious, which it was to him. He didn’t smell anything like Mystogan and the old man was lucky that Laxus was the only Dragon-Slayer that knew what the real Mystogan smelled like. “It’s the real Jellal. We harboring fugitives now, old man?”

“I have my reasons, boy” Makarov was still not happy to have Laxus back in the guild and didn’t need him questioning orders. “I am ordering the five of you to help keep _Mystogan’s_ cover during the Games.” He put emphases on the name to make it clear they were not to refer to Jellal by his true name. “Laxus, Mira, Juvia, and Gajeel will be on Fairy Tail’s team with Mystogan. Cana I need you to be the reserve member to fill in if Mystogan is unable to compete due to his mission.”

“And what mission is that?” Gajeel asked.

Jellal stepped forward at that point. He explained about the strange magic they had felt gathering at the Games every year. He was going to use his place on the Fairy Tail team to get into the Games and try to figure out where this magic was coming from. He swore to them that he would not put the guild in danger. After he explained everything everyone but Mira didn’t seem happy with this idea.

“You will never pass as Mystogan.” Laxus stated matter-of-factly.

“I just want to fight someone.” Gajeel didn’t care one way or another.

“Juvia is worried about this.” Juvia looked worried too. “But if Master says to, Juvia will protect this man.”

“Why am I getting dragged into this?” Cana was no stronger than before Tenrou, she didn’t belong on this team.

“I think this will be fun.” Mira said with a smile on her face.

“This isn’t a discussion. Now go. I’ll see you all in Crocus in two days.” Makarov told them and that was the end of that.


	10. Let the Games Begin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry about the repeat posting the other day. My chapter numbers on my saved files don't line up with the actual chapter number I'm posting because i combined two chapters at one point. I'm going to leave the double post up for now so I don't make that mistake again. I'll take it down when i finish the story.  
> Now, Let's get to the Grand Magic Games!

The first day in Crocus was hell. Makarov wanted the team to keep a “low profile” and by that he meant that they were grounded to the hotel room. If that wasn’t bad enough the whole team was sharing one room. That meant Cana was trapped in a room all day with this group of people. That meant listening to Juvia go on about Gray and how she wanted to share a room with him. Gajeel was complaining about being stuck with Laxus when he would rather be out with someone else, everyone knew he was talking about Levy even if he didn’t use her name. Laxus was just glaring at Cana the entire time, mentally cursing that he was stuck with her.

Laxus had managed control over his dragon for the last three months but now the thing seemed to be waking up. It wasn’t happy that he had been avoiding Cana and it could smell her stronger than anyone else in the room. Laxus knew that was just is imagination, Gajeel had a much stronger scent than anyone there except maybe Laxus himself, but he could easily pick Cana’s out. It was making him irritable.

Mira seemed to notice the hostility between Cana and Laxus and had tried at first to defuse it and has since given up. Mystogan was the only one spared from this torture seeing Makarov really couldn’t order the mage around and he wanted to scope out the city before the Games began.

Cana’s one saving grace was the bar downstairs was happy to bring beer and wine up to them. By the time it was getting dark Cana was already past her normal level of drunk. She had started gossiping with Mira and Juvia at that point about different possible couples in the guild. Mira was most excited about Elfman and Ever being a couple, obviously. They had bets on who Lucy was going to end up with, Loke or Natsu. Mira and Cana both actually thought it would be Gray but they didn’t bring that up in Juvia’s presence. Jellal got back around the time they were talking about Natsu and Lisanna getting together, another couple Mira was heavily pushing for.

“What about Levy and Jet? Think that they might get together soon? He has grown a lot while we were gone.” Mira asked.

“They would be so cute together.” Cana agreed.

“That ain’t never going to happen.” Gajeel said from where he was sitting on his bed. It was the first time any of the men commented on their conversation.

“Oh? Why is that?” Cana asked, everyone but Jellal turned to look at Gajeel.

“Cause Shorty is my mate. Claimed her two months ago. We ain’t got a chance to do no big announcement yet seeing how the old man wants us all to lay low.” Gajeel commented on it like it was no big deal but his announcement even got Jellal’s attention.

“Oh everyone at the guild already knows.” Panther Lily spoke up from where he was standing at the foot of the bed. “You did put that mark in a highly noticeable place.”

“Course I did. Got to let everyone know she’s off limits. Especially that team of hers.” Gajeel shrugged, defending himself.

Cana looked over to Laxus out of the corner of her eye as she rubbed the back of her neck where her mark was. Hearing Gajeel, of all people, talk so openly about his relationship with Levy was making her heart ache. She wished that Laxus we be like that, just once be willing to have claimed her in front of others. She didn’t have to worry about that anymore seeing he had officially ended their relationship anyways. Cana grabbed a bottle of wine and downed the whole thing while Mira, Juvia, and Jellal gave their congratulations to Gajeel. Cana wished she could be happy for her friend but right then jealousy was winning out. She would get herself shit faced tonight and be happy for Levy tomorrow.

“Do you have your eye on anyone, Laxus?” Mira asked. Gajeel snorted as he attempted to hold back his laughter, failing.

“Yeah, Sparky, let’s hear about who you got as a mate?” Gajeel said, even as Lily was trying to warn him that antagonizing his teammate might not be the best idea.

“Laxus has already taken a mate? Juvia never heard about this.” Juvia was staring at Laxus, it was kind of creeping him out.

“I told you before I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not with anyone, don’t plan on it anytime soon neither.” Laxus crossed his arms over his chest, making a point not to look at Cana. He could hear her open yet another bottle of wine.

“What about you, Mystogan, going to make things official with Erza?” Cana asked, looking for a change of topic.

Jellal looked at her. He was clearly uncomfortable and wasn’t sure how to answer that question. Luckily before Cana could press the topic the clock tower in town struck midnight and they were all distracted by Pumpkin Head announcing the start of the Games and the entire town shifting to raise the hotels of each guild into the air. The rules were explained, over one hundred fifty teams would enter the labyrinth and only the first eight to find their way out with be allowed to compete in in Games. Seeing Jellal had made it back to the room before the start of the game and was already in his Mystogan disguise he went with the team into that train wreck they called labyrinth. Cana went down to the bar to drink and watch them on the lacrima vision in the bar. Cana ended up drinking herself stupid before going up to pass out in Laxus’ bed.

Cana woke in the morning in her own bed. She wasn’t sure how she had got there but didn’t really care. Her head was killing her and she was really hoping she wouldn’t be needed that day. Luckily when she got up she noticed everyone else on the team was up and dressed. “I take it we made it.”

“That was never a question.” Laxus told her. “And next time you pass out, try to make it to your own bed.”

She groaned and laid back on her pillow. “Yours was closest.” That was true but it wasn’t the reason she had passed out there. She had wanted to be surrounded by his scent. She knew she needed to just get over Laxus but really it was going to take more than a week to get over the last three years. Laxus might have had the time he needed but it was still fresh to Cana. She could curse Virgo for not telling them about the time difference. Cana was trying, she was being civil to Laxus and wasn’t trying to jump his bones. She saw that as a win.

“We are heading to the arena if you want to come and watch with the rest of the guild.” Mira told her. She was way to chipper for this early in the morning in Cana’s opinion.

“I think I’ll skip today. I have plans.”

“Getting drunk isn’t plans.” Laxus told her, he sounded irritated with her.

“Damn, someone is pissy this morning. Is someone not a morning person?” Cana asked, snickering to herself. If there was one thing she knew about Laxus is was how much he hated being up before noon. He just glared at her but didn’t say anything. She was going to fully enjoy the opportunity to give him shit without him being able to retaliate. “Or maybe you just need to get your ass laid. Did you lose your game while we were locked away for seven years?”

“Cana, just shut up.” Gajeel told her. He could tell that Laxus was having to work to remain calm.

Laxus hadn’t slept well last night at all. He might have been fine sharing the room with Cana but she had climbed into his bed and her scent had saturated his pillow. He had spent most of the night fighting with his dragon to keep from screwing Cana with everyone in the room. He was tried and sexually frustrated and not willing to deal with Cana’s shit.

“I’m not the resident whore of Fairy Tail.” Laxus said under his breath. It felt like he had slapped Cana across the face.

“Laxus!” Mira gasped in shock.

“Oi!” Gajeel shouted.

“That’s not very nice.” Juvia said quietly, not sure if she should really say anything.

“Makarov thought that this team was going to work well together?” Jellal commented mostly to himself. They had been together less than twenty four hours and they were already fighting amongst themselves.

“You take that back, Laxus.” Mira told him.

“Why, it’s the truth. She’s got Loke and Bix beat.” Laxus shrugged, “It’s almost impressive.”

Cana got up and grabbed her bag, heading to the bathroom. “It’s fine Mira. We all know his father never taught him any manners. Taught you how to fuck your guild over though. You mastered that lesson.” She shut the door on the shouts from her team. It had been a low blow, she knew it but so had his comments.

She found it strange that the team Makarov was hoping to bring Fairy Tail victory consisted of three people that had tried to destroy it. She knew Juvia and Gajeel had changed their ways but a part of her didn’t trust Laxus. She stripped and looked at her shoulder in the mirror. It was still badly scarred. Wendy had been trying to heal it slowly but Cana still couldn’t lift her arm over her head. The guild had welcomed Laxus back like nothing had happened but Cana knew that there was still a darkness inside him that could come out at any time. She knew this about him and cared for him in spite of it. The others didn’t even know it existed.

By the time Cana showered and got dressed: today she was wearing long white pants, a blue bikini top and white jacket to cover the ugly scar, they were announcing the teams that qualified this year. She was watching on the lacrima vision in the bar. Natsu’s team had come in last place, but at least they had qualified. Cana was a little proud of her guild for getting two teams in the Games. Everyone in the bar booed Fairy Tail but Cana cheered for them. Everyone would see how great their guild was by the end of the week.

Quatro Cerberus was the next team announced. Cana knew they were a guild of wild guys that were known to cause almost as much damage as Fairy Tail. This wasn’t surprising considering their master, Goldmine, had been a member of Fairy Tail. Cana didn’t think that they were a particularly strong guild but figured things might have changed in the last seven years.

Mermaid Heel was next. They were an all-female guild but that was all Cana knew about them. They may have a slight advantage if they were to go against the guys, especially Quatro Cerberus, as men tend to underestimate women power.

Blue Pegasus was announced after that. They had the Trimen and a member that was dressed as a bunny on their team. Cana figured that would give any girl fighting a lead. None of the Trimen would enjoy going against a pretty girl. They were ridiculous womanizers.

Lamia Scale had made the cut as well. Cana wasn’t surprised to see they had Jura on the team. It was a little unfair to have one of the wizard saints on your team, but then they had Jellal on their. Not only had he been a wizard saint before being arrested, she was sure he had been higher ranked then Jura. She would have to hope that he was the one to pair up with Jura, it would make for a fun match.

Cana was not expecting the next team that came out, Raven Tail. That was Ivan Dreyar’s guild, Laxus’ father. It was a dark guild, or it had been seven years ago. Ivan only formed the guild so he could destroy Fairy Tail, there was no reason for him to be a legal guild. “That’s bullshit! They can’t compete! They’re a dark guild and everyone fucking knows it!” She shouted at the screen. It seemed that judges had the same idea but after checking the records they announced that Raven Tail had become a legal guild that year and was allowed to compete. Cana had a feeling that they were up to no good.

Laxus’ team was the next to come out. He had heard the announcement about Raven Tail and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it. He was still pissed off from that morning and now that he knew his father was there he was even more irritated. He may have taken his frustration out on Jellal for being a little too talkative with Erza, but honestly he was just looking out for the guy. How hard could it be to play the role of Mystogan, the guy talked less than Laxus. You just had to stand there and be quiet, which was apparently something that Jellal was incapable of around Erza. Laxus kept his eye on Raven Tail as the judges explained how it was that Fairy Tail had two teams. Everyone that thought Fairy Tail was weak could just eat their words, even the number one guild in Fiore hadn’t managed to get two teams through the first round.

Sabertooth was the final team to be announced. Both Fairy Tail teams made sure to size them up. This was the first chance they got to see the new guild. Laxus was sizing up the two new Dragon-Slayers, trying to figure out what their elements might be. They were clearly the crowd favorite and the twin dragons were most likely the strongest members based on how they lead the way into the arena. Laxus was going to have fun knocking them down a peg or two.

With all the teams announced the rules were then explained. The first day was going to consist of an event called “hidden” and then a one on one battle. Each team had to pick one member to participate in the event but no one knew what it was actually going to consist of. Based on the name it sounded like it was going to be some form of hide and seek game. Laxus wished he had his team, Bickslow was the king of hide and seek. The other teams quickly pick out their participants.

 **Mermaid Heel** : Beth Vanderwood, the smallest and youngest member of the team.  
**Quatro Cerberus** : Jager, a powerhouse that matched Elfman in size.  
**Raven Tail** : Nullpudding, a short, stocky, purple man. He had a smirk on his face and laughed as he looked at the Fairy Tail teams. Raven Tail was clearly up to no good.  
**Blue Pegasus** : Eve Tearm, Laxus didn’t know if his snow magic would help at all.  
**Sabertooth** : Rufus Lore, he seemed like someone Freed would hang out with, stupid hat and all.  
**Lamia Scale** : Lyon Vastia, Gray’s rival.  
**Fairy Tail Team A** : Gray Fullbuster, who simply wanted to fight against Lyon.  
**Fairy Tail Team B** : Juvia Lockser, who wanted to fight alongside her beloved. Laxus warned her not to throw the match just because she had feeling for Gray. He would kick her ass himself if she did that.

It didn’t matter much in the end. The game was ridiculously one sided. Nullpudding went after Gray for the entire match and Juvia got mixed into the crossfire. No one was even able to land a hit on Rufus but he managed to get every single person in a single attack at the end of the match. He was clearly a great strategist and Laxus really couldn’t help but compare him to Freed. If Rufus wasn’t suck a dick Laxus might even consider trying to hook the two up.

In the end both Fairy Tail teams were in last place with Team B having only one point and Team A behind them with zero. At least things couldn’t get much worse going into the battle matches. This was where Fairy Tail would excel anyways. If there was one thing they were good at, it was fighting.

The first match was Lucy against Flare Corona from Raven Tail. It was one of the toughest things Laxus ever had to watch. He might not like Blondie a whole lot but the match was ridiculously one sided. At one point it seemed that Lucy had given up and just stopped fighting. When Lucy finally did fight back and summoned Gemini for a powerful spell that, somehow, was dissipated before it made its mark. Laxus knew that Raven Tail was cheating, that’s just how his father worked, but they had no way to prove it. With Lucy out of magic power the fight is over, leaving Fairy Tail Team A with zero points for day one.

The next matches were Ren Akatsuki from Blue Pegasus against Arana Webb from Mermaid Heel. Ren was the victor. He apparently didn’t have any issues fighting girls. The next match was Warcry from Quatro Cerberus against Orga Nanagear from Sabertooth. Orga took him out with a single attack of black lightning. Laxus was very interested in that. He could feel the magic in the air and something about it made his dragon uneasy. He had the distinct feeling that he would not be able to absorb any attack from that lightning mage.

The final battle of the day was Jellal, or rather Mystogan, against Jura Neekis from Lamia Scale. Laxus was dreading this battle. While it was true that the two should be evenly match, Jura was familiar with Jellal’s magic. Laxus was pleasantly surprised that Jellal was able to use Mystagon’s rare form of magic. Apparently he was taking his undercover job seriously. Unfortunately, he was taking it too seriously. When Jura started to get the upper hand Jellal started to resort back to his own magic. Heavenly Body magic was not something you saw every day, in fact it was something only Jellal was known to use. What was the fool thinking using his magic like that? He was being reckless all for the sake of his pride. He might not be an official Fairy Tail wizard, but he was as stupid as them. Laxus was almost relieved when Jellal started laughing uncontrollably for no reason and wasn’t able to fight anymore. Laxus was pissed about the loss but it was better than Fairy Tail being disbanded for assisting the most wanted fugitive in Fiore.

At the end of the day, Fairy Tail only managed to pick up one point between two teams. Sabertooth was leading the pack. Following them was Raven Tail, Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, Mermaid Heel and Quatro Cerberus. The whole of Fairy Tail went to the Honey Bone to drink away their sorrows. Cana was there and already drunk.

“Way to suck it up out there! Losers! Seriously, how could members of the great Fairy Tail be so pathetic? It was embarrassing.” Cana told them from where she was sitting on a table. She had a bottle of wine in one hand and had honestly lost count of how much she had to drink that day. She knew it wasn’t their fault that Raven Tail had targeted them, but it still sucked and she was too drunk to care about being nice.

“I noticed you weren’t there to cheer them on.” Levy said to Cana. She was leaning against Gajeel who had his arms wrapped around her waist. Cana saw a black mark that almost looked like a tattoo on Levy’s left collarbone. She got off the table to take a closer look at it. It was in the shape of an eye with three lines coming off the back of it and a dot at the end of each. Levy had also apparently decided to get her own piercing there that only completed the eye illusion. Cana didn’t know it, but the mark was the same design that was around Metalicana’s eye.

“So that’s what a mate mark looks like?” Cana asked, ignoring the low growl that was coming from Gajeel at her being so close to his mate.

Levy blushed, she always did any time someone mentioned the mark. “Uhh, yeah. It’s taking some getting used to.”

“It looks totally cool.” Cana assured her. “It fits you.”

Levy could see the sadness in her friend’s eyes but she didn’t really understand why it was there. “Thank you. It is still a little weird and I’m still learning things. Metalicana wasn’t able to teach Gajeel everything before he disappeared.”

“You want to see something cool?” Cana asked in a whisper, not wanting anyone to overhear her. She had a theory she had been wanting to test out but couldn’t until now. Before Levy could say anything she grabbed one of Gajeel’s hand and pressed it against the mark. Gajeel tried to pull away from her but she forced his hand to stay in place. Levy’s jaw dropped when Gajeel made contact with the mark. She could feel all the emotions going through him. He was annoyed at having to deal with Cana, angry at how the tournament was going, she could even feel the love he felt for her.

“You might want to let go of him.” Levy told Cana. “I can feel how much he wants to hurt you right now.” Cana quickly pulled her hand away. Levy stood on her tiptoes so she could give Gajeel a light kiss. “I’m proud of you for holding back.” Levy had learned that Gajeel was having a hard time controlling his dragon urges since the mating and made a point of rewarding him any time he managed to do so. It seemed to be helping.

Cana smiled at them, her jealousy momentarily forgotten. “I knew it!”

“How did you know about that?” Levy asked, looking suspiciously at Cana. She was now holding Gajeel’s hand to the mating mark. He wasn’t someone who was great at expressing his emotions so she was going to take advantage of feeling his love for her while she could.

Cana deflated at her question. She didn’t know how to answer that. She felt the ache in her chest starting again as she thought about Laxus and how she had felt his emotions when he grabbed her neck. Levy seemed happy with whatever she was feeling from Gajeel but Cana had only felt negative emotions from Laxus.

“She is Laxus’ mate” Gajeel whispered into Levy’s ear. The Script mage squeaked in excitement.

“Ex-mate … thing … whatever we were. It’s over so please don’t mention it.” Cana said quickly and quietly, looking around to make sure no one heard them.

“You can’t stop being a mate.” Levy told her. “That’s not how it works.”

“Well, tell that to him, he decided it was over.” Cana hated the tightness in her throat as she said those words and the tears that burned her eyes. She refused to cry over Laxus Dreyar anymore. She could see the petty in Levy’s eyes and that just made everything hurt more. “Who’s up for a drinking contest?” She called out to the group suddenly. “I’ve already started so maybe this is a contest you losers can win!”

Cana had already out drank several members of the guild when a tall and muscular man entered the bar. “Now this looks like a party worth joining” the man said as he leaned against the table Cana was sitting at.

“Oh yeah?” Cana looked him up and down. He was nowhere as bulky as Laxus was but he was defiantly easy on the eyes. Cana could appreciate a man who went around half naked. She could also tell that he knew how good he looked as he gave her a cocky smile. Cana could feel Laxus glaring at them from where he was watching her from across the bar. It just made her want to be all the more open about her ogling.

“How about a couple of drinks to pass the time?” The man asked her as he put a shot down in front of her.

“Ah, so we’re skipping the introductions and going straight to the fun part? You got something to prove do you?” Cana heard Macao and Wakaba try and warn the stranger about drinking with Cana. She was actually a little worried they might chase him off and ruin her fun. She took the shot he offered before she jumped off the table and headed over to the bar. As she past the stranger she was sure to brush her body against his and run her hand across his chest. “You’re on, but you’re buying.”

The man smiled at her as he looked her body over. “This is going to be Wild.”

Cana didn’t know it at that point but that night was going to be one that she would never remember but also one that she would never forget.


	11. Winners and Losers

Cana woke up the next morning when someone poured a jug of cold water on her. She bolted upright at the sudden cold wetness and immediately regretted the quick movement. Her head felt like it was about to explode. She couldn’t remember the last time she had drank until she passed out, it had been years. As she slowly recovered she looked around to figure out where she was. She was sitting on the floor of the bar, apparently no one had bothered to move her last night.

“Put this on, we have to head to the arena.” Laxus was standing over her, he was the one that had soaked her. He tossed one of her bikini tops at her. It was only then did she notice she wasn’t wearing the one she had on last night. She still had her jacket on, thankfully, but her top was gone. What had happened last night?

“You’re going to come watch today, right?” Mira asked with a smile on her face. She was standing beside Laxus, Juvia was on his other side. Jellal and Gajeel were there as well but both were turned with their backs to her, not wanting to stare at her while she was half naked. “That guy from last night is joining Quatro Cerberus today.” Mira had one of her knowing smirks on her face.

Cana tied her top into place, not taking off her jacket to do so. It was more difficult that way but Cana still don’t want anyone to see her scar. The truth of everything was she was vain and the scar made her feel ugly. She tried to tell herself she didn’t want people to be angry at Laxus for hurting her and that was partly true, but it was more than that. She was use to everyone looking at her body, being the object of most men’s wet dreams. Men didn’t fantasies about girls with horrible scars. She wasn’t ready to give that up yet.

Cana was trying to figure out what Mira was talking about. She could only remember bits of the night before. She really had drank way too much. Why was that? Then she remembered the guy that had shown up and challenged her to a drinking contest. Had she lost a drinking contest? She never lost. “That fucker!” She winced at her own loud voice. “He cheated! He had to, I’m going to kick his ass!”

“The drunk can’t handle that someone beat her at her own game?” Gajeel joked.

“We should get going. They will disqualify us if we are late.” Jellal told the group.

Juvia helped Cana get up. “Juvia hopes she does not have to face my darling Gray again today.”

With that they all went to the arena. Because Cana was a reserve member, she was allowed to watch the games from the team’s balcony. When she saw Quatro Cerberus she immediately recognized the guy from the night before. When their eyes meet he smirked at her and said something to his team she couldn’t hear. She knew it was about her because everyone else looked at her then started laughing, she heard shouts of “Wild!” but that was it.

The first event of day two was called “Chariot”. One would think this might be a hint as to the fact the event may involve moving vehicles. So how it was that three Dragon-Slayers ended up competing, Cana really couldn’t understand. It was almost like the event had been created for no reason other than to torture the Dragon-Slayers. The objective was a foot race on top of a slowly moving train of wood platforms. This proved only to be a challenge for the Dragon-Slayers that insisted on competing against each other. The contestants ranked as follows:

 **Quatro Cerberus** : Bacchus Groh, the mystery man from the bar in first place.  
**Raven Tail** : Kurohebi, came in second.  
**Mermaid Heel** : Risley Law, used her chubby power to claim third place.  
**Lamia Scale** : Yuka Suzuki, came in a close forth.  
**Blue Pegasus** : Ichiya, came in fifth and the last of the non-incapacitated contestants.   
**Fairy Tail Team A** : Natsu Dragneel, who was competing to show his friends he wasn’t going to give up on them. He fought his way through his motion sickness to get sixth place.  
**Fairy Tail Team B** : Gajeel Redfox, who wasn’t going to let Natsu out do him came in seventh.  
**Sabertooth** : Sting Eucliffe, forfeited the match due to his motion sickness.

After the ridiculousness that was Chariot, the battles are set to begin. If Cana thought that the combat portion of the day would go by without getting weird, she was about to be sadly disappointed. The first battle was Toby Horhorta from Lamia Scale against Blacksnake of Raven Tail. Toby was an interesting character in himself and when he found out Blacksnake was not his opponents real name he waged a bet, if Toby won the Blacksnake had to tell his real name, if Blacksnake won the Toby would tell him his super-secret. Toby is quickly defeated and reveals that he can’t find his most precious possession, his sock. Blacksnake is nice enough to point out the missing sock is around Toby’s neck, the man then tears it to shreds.

The next match is set up as Bacchus of Quatro Cerberus against Elfman Strauss of Fairy Tail Team A. Cana must had missed something from when Bacchus was at the bar because no one seemed to think Elfman was going to be able to beat him. The cocky asshole was even laying down on the ground watching Elfman.

“Hey, what do ya say we make our own bet? Like those last guys did.” Bacchus asked Elfman. He was sure he was going to win this easily. Elfman was an intimidating guy but he was huge and that meant he was slow. It didn’t matter how strong the dude was, he would never be able to land a hit on Bacchus.

“What?” Elfman wasn’t sure if he should be making a bet but it might make things more interesting.

“That girl from last night,” Bacchus looked up to where Cana was watching with the rest of the team and smirked at her. “She is a smokin’ hot little number.”

“So?” Elfman didn’t care what this guy thought of his guild mate. “What’s your point?”

“Come on man, I know you can’t be that dense.” One look at Elfman’s face had Bacchus wonder if maybe he was that dense. “If I win the match, she keeps me company tonight. All night.”

Cana couldn’t believe what she had just heard, of all the nerve. “Scumbag! Elfman you better not lose this! I am so not sleeping with that creep!” Cana was leaning over the railing, yelling at Elfman. She felt a heavy hand on her shoulder before she was pulled back from the rail and against Laxus’ chest. She could feel more then hear him growling, a possessive arm around her waist. Cana relaxed against him for a second before she moved herself out of his reach and to the railing again to watch the fight. Laxus was the one who ended it, he had no right to behave like that.

Bacchus had been watching Cana curiously. “Now it’s your turn. If you win …” He turned his attention to Elfman again, waiting for him to finish the sentence.

“Listen pal, a real man doesn’t tolerate that kind of disrespect. So get ready to get schooled.” Elfman wasn’t comfortable with the bet but a real man never backed down from a challenge. At least if he lost it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, right? No, he wasn’t going to lose, Fairy Tail’s reputation was on the line.

“So I reckon that means you accept this little wager, do ya?” Bacchus got up off the ground and ready to fight. “I’m so excited I got the shakes.” Or maybe that was the lack of alcohol, didn’t really matter.

The fight started and it was sadly one sided. Cana could only watch as Bacchus landed hit after hit on Elfman no matter what takeover the guy used. Elfman was just too slow to get a hand on the smaller man. If Elfman could just get ahold of him he could turn things around but as it was he had no hope.

“I’m going to have a wild time tonight. Oh yeah!” Bacchus was taunting Elfman. He hadn’t even started drinking yet and he could already taste victory.

“You’ll have a wild time when I kick your ass!” Cana yelled at him. Mira was now trying to get Cana to calm down.

“Don’t worry, Elfman will beat him. You don’t have to do anything.” Mira tried to reassure Cana.

“Haven’t you ever heard of asking a girl out?!” She shouted at Bacchus who chuckled. Bastard could hear her, good. Unfortunately the fight was not going well for Elfman who was now on the ground.

“Oh man. I can’t wait.” Bacchus looked up at Cana again as he licked his lips. He already had her top, he couldn’t wait to add more of her clothing to his collection. When he looked back to Elfman he was getting back up from the ground. “Ah, back on your feet? All you’re howling about being a man ain’t just for show.” He was impressed that he was still able to stand. He might have to up his game a little.

Elfman knew he had to come up with a new strategy. There was only one thing he could think of. If he couldn’t play offence he would have to go defense. If he got Bacchus angry enough to just attack without thinking his plan might work. “Listen up you dog. I never told you what I wanted.”

“Huh?” Bacchus looked at him, confused. What was the guy talking about?

“Our bet. What I want you to do if I win.” Elfman clarified for him.

“This is gonna be the only time this comes up, so go ahead. Tell me what happens if you win.” Bacchus was already eyeing his gourd.

“I want you, and the rest of your guild bros, to go by the name Quatro Puppy!” Everyone laughed at Elfman’s suggestion. It might seem stupid but he knew that would get a rise out of Natsu so maybe it would work here. It would also be hilarious once he did win.

“Okay, okay. You got yourself a deal.” Bacchus walked over to his gourd and drank the whole thing. “Last call.” He said as he already felt the potent mix of liquor starting to take effect.

The alcohol made Bacchus fast and his movement even more unpredictable. It numbed him to pain too so he wouldn’t hold back on his attack. That was probably why it took him a few hits before he noticed that his arms were taking more damage than his opponent. Elfman had used a takeover that turned him into a lizard monster with hard plates and spikes as armor. He wasn’t even trying to fight back, he was just taking the hits Bacchus delivered. It was going to be a match of will power and Bacchus was sure he could outlast Elfman. He landed hard hit after hard hit until they were both exhausted. Elfman’s takeover ran out and he collapsed onto his knees, out of magic power.

“That was wild!” Bacchus exclaimed, his team cheered for him, thinking he had won. Bacchus looked up to Cana again. “About that date …” He didn’t get to finish before his exhaustion, and probably the liquor, got to him and he passed out. Elfman, being the only one still standing, was declared the winner.

Cana felt relieved that Elfman had won, but she found herself smirking at the thought of how close the match had been. Bacchus was a decent fighter and a decent drinker. If he did decided to actually ask her to hook up she would think about it. It would have the extra benefit of pissing off Laxus. The lightning slayer was still glaring down at the unconscious man looking like he wanted to murder him.

Once the injured were removed from the field it was time of the next match to begin. Jenny Realight, was fighting as a reserve member of Blue Pegasus, was against Mirajane Strauss from Fairy Tail Team B. Both girls were centerfold models for Sorcerer’s Weekly and takeover mages. They had agreed to do a pose off instead of a battle seeing neither of them like to fight. Jenny knew she wasn’t very strong and Mira just didn’t like how she acted when her Satan Soul took over. Jenny even came up with a bet to make things more interesting, the loser of the match would have to pose naked for Sorcerer’s Weekly.

What had started as a bathing suit contest between the two girls, which was already weird, turned even weirder when the girls from Mermaid Heel decided to join in. No one in the crowed seemed to mind this and the judges were even encouraging it. The girls from Lamia Scale joined in after their master threatened them. Even Master Mavis, who had come to watch the games with the rest of Fairy Tail, was getting in on it and insisted Fairy Tail join. Soon all the girls from the competing guilds, not just the girls on the teams but everyone in the guild, was in the area in bathing suits showing off for the crowed. Cana was the only one that had refused to go down and humiliate herself.

“You know, Master Mavis told all the girls to get down there.” Laxus had come up behind her and whispered in her ear.

Cana had to repress a shiver as his breath brushed across her ear. “When have I ever listened to any of our Masters?”

The girls in the field went through many looks. School swimsuits, Bikinis and thigh highs, girls with glasses, even cat ears. Jason, the guest judge from Sorcerer Weekly, was loving the match as he shouted out different things for the girls to wear. “Bondage gear!” he shouted out.

“There is something I know you would look sexy in.” Laxus commented. He wasn’t worried about being too quiet seeing it was only the two of them and Gajeel on the balcony, Jellal had disappeared somewhere.

“To bad you’ll never get to see me in it again.” Cana had bought a ridiculous leather outfit on a whim a while ago to tease Laxus with. It had worked well.

“I might have to rethink things.” He said. The group below was now doing wedding dresses and most of the guys had gone down to join as grooms. This included Gajeel and left Laxus alone with Cana. The dragon inside him has pacing all day. It was still angry about her behavior with Bacchus the night before. Cana might not remember but she had been practically hanging off the guy while they had been drinking and then he took her top as a prize when he won. Then today he was trying to take her away from him again. That man wanted his mate and his dragon was not happy about it at all. Things weren’t helped by the fact Cana kept moving away from him every time he tried to touch her. Even now when he tried to pull her into his arms she moved away from him.

“I’m not doing this, Laxus.” Cana looked around nervously, not wanting to be overheard. “I’m done with just sleeping around with you. If you want to rethink things, then realize that I’m not looking for a fuck buddy anymore.” She looked down to where Gajeel and Levy were. He had the bluenette in his arms and was kissing her. “I want that.” She said quietly. She hadn’t meant for Laxus to hear it but his Dragon-Slayer hearing picked it up easily.

Laxus followed her gaze to look at Gajeel and Levy. They looked happy and were flaunting their love. They were the only couple that was actively showing off. _They are mates, you should claim your mate. Everyone should know she is yours. Then drunk men won’t try to take her from us_ His inner dragon was telling him. The problem was Laxus didn’t feel that way about Cana. He cared for her, a lot, but he didn’t love her. If he claimed her in front of the guild they would expect things from them. He wasn’t the type to date, hell Mira would plan their wedding if she found out.

 _You’re mates. What is a wedding compared to that?_ His dragon asked. A wedding was a lot. He didn’t know if he wanted to be stuck with Cana forever. If he came out to the guild he would never be able to get rid of her. Gildarts would kill him for one, if Erza, Mira, Lucy and Levy didn’t beat him to it.

 _She is already yours forever. All you are doing is hurting yourself by denying it. She is our Mate!_ The dragon was yelling at him now. Laxus ran his hands through his hair and roared in frustration at the voice in his head. It wasn’t until then that he realized the match was over and his team was staring at him. He had missed the end of the fight, and Mira’s victory, all because he was fighting with the voices in his head, great. He was officially going crazy.

The last match was between Yukino Agria from Sabertooth and Kagura Mikazuchi from Mermaid Heel. The wager for this match was their very lives. While this sounded like it would be interesting, and Laxus should really watch the Sabertooth member to learn more about them, he just couldn’t focus. He needed to get some space and get away from Cana’s scent. His inner dragon had been quiet for the three months he had been training and now it seemed that it was back and trying to make up for lost time. He left the balcony and went to the team’s locker room. He trusted the others to give him any information that he needed to know.

It turned out that Yukino was a Celestial Spirt mage like Lucy and she even had the two Zodiac Keys that Lucy was missing. She also had a thirteenth Zodiac Key, Ophiuchus, but even that wasn’t enough to defeat Kagura. Kagura was able to take Yukino down using her sword, Archenemy, without even having to draw it. Yukino had lost the match and her life now belonged to Kagura. That was the end of day two of the Grand Magic Games.

Final positions at the end of day two had Raven Tail with a major lead. Sabertooth and Lamia Scale tied behind them. Mermaid Heel and Blue Pegasus were fourth and fifth. That left Quatro Cerberus and the two Fairy Tail teams all tied in last place.

That night most of the guild was at Honey Bone again, drinking again, this time to celebrate their wins. They were still in last place but that didn’t dampen their spirts any. They were turning things around and that ment it was time to party. Of course Fairy Tail always found a reason to party anyways. The boys from the newly named Quatro Puppy team were there to drink with them. The two guild use to be close before the events on Tenrou Island and it seemed that friendship was still strong as the Wild boys partied with the wild Fairy Tail.

Cana was sitting at the bar this night drinking. She hadn’t seen Laxus since the end of Mira’s match. Natsu’s team was also missing and Jellal was out on the town again. Gajeel had disappeared upstairs with Levy not long ago and Cana knew she wouldn’t see them again that night. Mira had been giving Cana weird looks all day and Cana felt she might suspect something was going on with her and Laxus. This meant that Cana didn’t have anyone she could drink with, hence drinking alone at the bar.

“About that date …” She heard Bacchus’ voice just before the man draped an arm around her shoulders. Both his hands and arms were bandaged up to the elbow but he seemed mostly uninjured from the fight.

“I don’t know what fight you were watching, but I believe you lost that bet.” Cana said as she brushed him arm off her shoulder.

Bacchus took the seat next to Cana at the bar. He was drinking out of his own supply that night and was mindful to just take sips. The mix he kept in his gourd was especially strong in order to take effect quickly in battle. If he didn’t keep his tolerance up it could go from being his biggest strength to his biggest weakness. “I heard ya say something about asking ya out. Not normally my style but I can’t let a Wild thing like you get away.”

Cana felt his arm wrap around her waist and pull her closer to him. Normally she didn’t like getting man handled but it felt kind of nice. She wouldn’t mind having a little attention from someone who was as hot as Bacchus. So, she let it go just this one time. “I also said I’m not sleeping with you.” She remind him.

“I try not to focus on the negatives in life.” He said, chuckling lightly.

Cana shook her head at him but found herself smiling. “You know, our contest last night wasn’t fair. I want my top back.”

“It was completely fair. But if ya want it back I guess you’ll have to come to my hotel to get it.”

Cana elbowed him in the stomach, lightly, not enough to really hurt him. “You’re such a pig.” She tried to sound irritated but she was smiling at him.

“At least I let ya keep the jacket to cover with.” He pointed out.

Cana was quiet for a second after that. “Why did you do that?” She still couldn’t remember the night very well but she didn’t peg Bacchus as the polite type.

“Maybe I’ll tell ya one day. But not today. Got a reputation to keep.” He took a swig from his gourd before offering it to her.

Cana took the offered drink and sniffed it. It was stronger than anything she had ever had before and caused her to cough. “What is this? Paint thinner?” She asked. Bacchus laughed and tried to take it back but she moved out of his reach. She took a tentative sip. It burned like hell and she knew if she chugged it like he had in the arena she would probably be knocked on her ass. Maybe she had been drunk at the start of their contest but she wouldn’t have been able to out drink him. Not if this is what he drinks regularly.

Bacchus was staring at her wide eyed “Damn, that was Wild.” He almost sounded in awe as she handed back the gourd. “Ain’t nobody ever been daring enough to actually drink it.”

“Trust me, I’m not doing it again, that stuff is nasty.” Cana made a face before drinking the rest of the beer in front of her to get rid of the taste.

“It does the job though.” He took another swig.

“But at what cost.” Cana teased. Bacchus was easy to talk to and fun to tease. The sat together most of the night. Most of his guild left after a few hours and most of Fairy Tail had passed out or gone to their rooms. Cana was keeping herself between buzzed and drunk where Bacchus hardly seemed buzzed even after finishing his gourd.

“So, about my top …” Cana asked once it had gotten late.

“Told ya, come and get it anytime.” Bacchus told her, smirking at her.

“Lead the way!” Cana declared as she got up and headed for the door.

Bacchus walked with his arm around her shoulder, taking her to a hotel just down the road from the bar. His team had been sharing one room like the Fairy Tail teams but because he had come later than them he had got his own room which he took her into. Once the door was closed he pulled her into a kiss. Cana could taste his special mix of liquor on him and it tasted much better when mixed with his own spicy flavor. She moaned into the kiss and put her arms around his neck, pulling herself closer to him.

Cana really couldn’t complain about how her night was going, it was exactly what she had been expecting. The problem came when Bacchus tried to remove her jacket. Cana flinched and moved away from him. She bumped into the bed and fell back on it before sitting up and looking at him. “Don’t.” She was suddenly completely sober.

Bacchus was looking at her in shock. “Sorry, I thought ya wanted ...” He didn’t think he had miss read her signals but apparently he was off his game.

“I do.” Cana said quickly then silently cursed herself for seeming over eager. “I mean … I …” She hated being self-conscious. She hadn’t been with a guy since Laxus had injured her and even he couldn’t look at the scar he had given her. She was normally so confident when it came to sex, it was the one thing she was good at, but after being rejected by Laxus she was unsure of herself.

Bacchus sat down next to her on the bed. “I’m not much of a listener, but if ya need ta talk …”

Cana shook her head. She spotted her top on the bedside table and grabbed it, getting ready to leave. Bacchus caught her arm and stopped her. “Hey, I earned that.” He said in a playful tone. He didn’t know how things had gotten so serious.

“Bacchus, let me go, please.” Cana didn’t fight against his hold, not even when he pulled her into his lap.

“I never let a girl leave unhappy.” He waited for her to relax into him before he started planting light kisses on her neck. She sighed and leaned into him until he got down to her right shoulder. When he tried to move her jacket out of his way she moved away from him again. That’s when he figured out what was bothering her. “You know, scars are Wild.”

Cana’s hand shot up to cover her shoulder. “How do you know about that?” She asked him.

“Saw it that first night while taking my prize.” That was the reason he had let her keep her jacket. If someone was wearing a jacket in Crocus in the middle of summer there had to be a reason and he figured it had to do with the scar. He could see how uncomfortable she was now and he couldn’t understand how someone so beautiful could be so self-conscious. He knew she wasn’t normally this shy from how she behaved at the bar. He carefully reached up to grab her jacket and pulled it off her shoulders. He did so slowly, giving her a chance to stop him but she didn’t. Cana figured if he had already seen it there wasn’t any harm in him seeing it now.

Once he had her jacket off her leaned in and kissed the expansive scaring on her shoulder. Cana was tense at first but relaxed as he started moving his lips up her neck and to the sweet spot behind her ear. “You’re so … Wild.” He breathed into her ear and Cana giggled, Bacchus was a strange man but she was relaxing again and soon found herself in his arms pinned to his bed.

“I thought I told you I wasn’t sleeping with you.” She told him even as she worked to pull his armored sleeves off.

“I wasn’t planning on much sleeping.” He planted light kiss down her neck and chest, making sure to kiss every scar he found along the way. Bacchus had a thing for chicks with scars. He didn’t like delicate women who never had to fight. They just didn’t understand him or his life style. Cana’s body was a feast for his eyes.

Cana had many scars on her body and Bacchus had decided one day he would find out the story behind each of them but tonight he was going to help her appreciate how sexy they made her. Besides the one on her shoulder she had faded marks on her neck from what looked like bites. They were barely noticeable unless you were looking closely at them. Her left arm had a web pattern on the upper arm, it looked to be a few years old. She even had marks on her hip that he couldn’t help but noticed lined up with his fingers when he held her. There was also half a dozen slash marks of different shapes and sizes across her torso. Bacchus spent what was left on the night making sure she was aware of just out hot he thought she was, scars and all.


	12. Fairy Glitter

Cana was woken the next morning to knocking on the door. She thought about getting up to answer but she was still tired and her bed was incredibly warm. She just wiggled closer to her pillow. “Fuck off Laxus, I’m sleeping.” She mumbled quietly although she knew if I was him, he would hear it.

She heard someone chuckling and her pillow was moving away from her. She opened her eyes to see her pillow was actually Bacchus. That was right, she had stayed at his hotel last night. “Does Laxus wake you often?” he asked before there was another knock on the door. “I’m up Rocker!” He didn’t need his team mate coming in and seeing the naked girl in his bed. Not that he cared if they knew she was there, he just didn’t want them seeing her naked. That was only for him this morning and he was more than happy to look.

Cana felt herself blush as she got out of bed and looked for her clothes. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Nah, I’m not the jealous type.” He got up and wrapped his arms around her from behind, kissing her behind her ear.

Cana moaned lightly and leaned back into him. “How long until the games start?”

Bacchus looked at the clock before sighing and taking a step back from her. “Not long enough.”

There was only twenty minutes to get to the arena and be ready for the games. That wasn’t going to be enough time for Cana to shower, let alone have another round with Bacchus. She was so fuck, there was no way her team wasn’t getting to know where she was last night. There wasn’t anything she could do about it now. They both got dress and Bacchus refilled his gourd from a barrel in his room. When they left the room, she saw his team was waiting for him.

“Man, you’re WILD!” They shouted when they saw him leave his room with Cana beside him. Cana didn’t know what she was expecting him to do but it wasn’t throwing his arm around her shoulder and pulling her against his side.

“Ya better treat my girl right.” He told his boys with a smile on his face.

“Your girl huh?” Cana asked, her hands crossed in front of her. She was trying to look irritated with him but in truth she liked the way that sounded.

“I’m not letting a Wild thing like you go so easy.” He whispered it in her ear.

Cana shrugged, throwing her arms up in mock surrender. “Well, when you put it like that.”

Bacchus gave her a quick kiss that had his team shouting “Wild!” again and left Cana laughing at the crazy guys she was now stuck with. They ended up walking to the arena together and Bacchus kept his arm around her shoulders the whole way. Cana wasn’t sure how she felt about Bacchus, but she was loving the open affection he was willing to give her.

Once they got to the arena they split ways. Master Makarov had already told Cana that she was going to have to substitute for Jellal today due to Lehar being the guest judge. Apparently Jellal was wanting to stay far away from the man that arrested him. Really, she couldn’t blame him. She headed down to Fairy Tail Team B’s locker room to change into her team uniform. Luckily when she got there it was empty and she was able to change quickly. There wasn’t much time before she had to be on the field and she was about to rush out the door when Master Mavis came in.

“First Master?” Cana was surprised to see her.

“I was hoping to catch you before you left.” Mavis was smiling at her. She was always in a good mood and it was infectious. “You’re going to be competing today, correct.”

Cana nodded. “Yeah, I’m filling in for Mystogan.” She saw something almost like disapproval cross over Mavis face for a second before her smile was back in place.

“Fairy Tail needs some big wins out there, I’m here to help.” Mavis said before she waved her hand at Cana. Cana felt a familiar magic power wrap around her right forearm. She pulled up the sleeve of her jacket to see the marks of Fairy Glitter on her arm again. “Wielding this spell is not easy. It takes incredible concentration and power. You have both. I know you won’t fail us.”

Cana grinned at the first Master. “Oh yeah! With this Fairy Tail is going to dominate! Thanks Master!” Cana heard Mavis laughing as she ran out to get onto the field. They were starting to announce the teams and she was way late.

Cana caught up with the team just before they were supposed to walk out. Both Gajeel and Laxus took a step back from her, Laxus actually covered his nose. Juvia and Mira didn’t notice anything strange about her.

“Damn, have you heard of a shower?” Gajeel asked her.

“Bite me! I slept in, alright!” She shouted at him.

Laxus could smell the drunk for Quatro Cerberus all over Cana. She smelt like him, booze, and stale sex. That would be enough to make him feel sick even without his Dragon causing a ruckus. It was on a rampage, demanding blood. If this had been three months ago, it would have won. Luckily for Cana and her boy toy, Laxus had learned some control over the beast inside him. It wasn’t much though and he didn’t know if it would last long. “Why are you even here?”

“Yeah, where’s Mystogan?” Mira asked her. Cana quickly explained about how Lehar was the guest judge and Jellal was laying low for today.

Laxus had moved farther away from the group now, looking for some fresh air. His lightning was trying to form around him. Gajeel could smell the ozone in the air caused by the weak control Laxus had on his magic power. “No offence boozer, but you need to wash.” He told Cana before turning to Juvia. “Hey, Juvia, can you give Cana a rinse. I can’t focus with this stench.”

“I can’t smell that bad!” Cana tried to argue but she was hit by a jet of water from Juvia.

“I’m sorry Cana.” Juvia apologized. “Juvia know how sensitive Gajeel’s nose can be.” She explained.

The water did help a bit with the scent, at least now Juvia’s own scent was layered on top. It made it easy for Gajeel to ignore and helped Laxus get a hold of the dragon inside for the time being. He was in control enough that when they walked out and he saw Bacchus on the field he didn’t instantly attack him. Laxus figured that should count as a win for him.

Mato explained to the teams the next event was called “Pandemonium” and each team needed one person to compete. There wasn’t much of an explanation of what was going to be involved in this.

“Seeing I’m bothering you so much, I’ll get out of your hair.” Cana said as she stepped forward for her team. She saw one of the guys, Nobarly she remembered his name from that morning, start to walk forward for Quatro Puppy but was pulled back by Bacchus when he saw that Cana was competing and he came forward instead. The other teams quickly chose their competitors.

 **Raven Tail** : Obra, the man that attacked Wendy at the start of the games.  
**Blue Pegasus** : Hibiki Lates, archive magic extraordinar.  
**Sabertooth** : Olga, who Laxus was excited to see in action again.  
**Lamia Scale** : Jura.  
**Fairy Tail Team A** : Erza Scarlet.  
**Mermaid Heel** : Millianna, who decided to compete because of Erza.

“I didn’t know you were on the team.” Bacchus said as he came up to Cana.

“Mystogan was needed elsewhere so I’m filling in for him.” Cana smiled at him but moved away when he tried to put an arm around her again. “We’re enemies now.” She reminded him “So don’t think I’m going to go easy on you.”

Laxus was watching from up on the balcony and he didn’t miss when Bacchus tried to hold Cana. He also saw her move away from him and it made his inner dragon happy. _She doesn’t want him. She is ours. He needs to pay for even thinking of touching what is ours._ It growled at him. Laxus tried to pacify it. He promised that when the chance came he would let his dragon have some fun and take its frustrations out. This seemed to calm it to a degree, enough that he could pay attention to what Mato was saying about the competition.

Pandemonium was supposed to be a complicated game of numbers, strategy, and chance. Each contestant was to enter a giant upside-down castle and face off against a number of monsters. There was 100 monsters in all of different strength and each person was to choose how many they would face off against. It sounded like it would have been an interesting game, if Erza didn’t ruin it. Erza had drawn lucky number one and was the first to go into the castle. She decided to go against all 100 monsters at once.

Cana figured that this meant the first game was already over. That sucked. She had really wanted to show off the gift the first Master had given her. She could also feel Laxus glaring at her and Bacchus the entire time Erza was fighting. Cana started drinking while waiting on Erza. She was going to need a lot of liquid support if she was going to deal with pissed off Laxus all day. Everyone that wasn’t a Fairy Tail member was shocked and amazed when Erza was able to take down all the monsters before her. The crowed started cheering for her. The mood in Crocus was starting to turn in favor of Fairy Tail.

After Erza ruined the game and got first place for her team, the judges needed to figure out a way to rank the remaining seven teams. They brought out a device called a Magic Power Finder, or MPF for short, to rank their magic power. The idea was you hit the lacrima in the center with your full power and it gives you a number read out of your magic power. Cana wasn’t really paying that close of attention to what was going on though. She was distracted by Hibiki hitting on her.

“Are you free later tonight?” Hibiki asked her.

Cana put down the bottle she was drinking from. What was with all the male attention she was getting lately? Not that she was complaining about it. “Well I could be. But then I wouldn’t have room for another barrel.” She pointed at the half dozen barrels of wine she had already drunk.

“You might have a problem.” Hibiki told her with a nervous laugh. “How are you not dead?”

“I think ya really need to up the quality of your drink.” Bacchus told her. He held out his gourd to her.

“I think you need to fix your taste buds.” She told him but she took his gourd anyways. She wasn’t really planning on drinking it, but this had the benefit of taking it away from him. If they were still going to have to compete then she was going to remove his power boost. She could tell that it was still mostly full from the weight.

“The boozer is drinking on the job!” Gajeel yelled from where the team was watching.

“I guess we’re not scoring this round.” Laxus sounded uninterested. He had noticed how she had brushed off Hibiki and it had made his dragon proud, until she took the drink offered by Bacchus.

“Stop drinking!” Juvia yelled at her “You still have to compete for us, Cana!”

“Huh?” Cana looked around and that was when she noticed the MPF. Maybe she was overdrinking just a little if she had missed something this big. _Maybe I should start paying attention_. She thought to herself.

Millianna was the first up on the MPF. She got a score of 365 which, they were informed by Lahar, was a score equal to that of a squad captain in the Rune Knight army. Bacchus was after her with a score of 361.

“Ha, beat by a girl?” Cana teased him.

“I’m still recovering from yesterday.” He defended himself as he took his gourd back from her, getting much closer than was necessary “and last night.” He added in a whisper to her. He grinned when he saw her shiver and heat flash in her eyes at the memory.

Hibiki was next with a score of 95. He fell to his knees and started crying about not even being able to get triple digits. Cana went over and hugged him, his face on her stomach. She did like the little guy and didn’t want him upset. “Aw, come on, cute stuff, don’t be like that. I can cheer you up tonight if you really want me to.”

“I don’t think I can wait that long. I need comforting now.” Hibiki said but Cana noticed he had stopped crying.

Laxus saw red when he heard Cana’s words to Hibiki. Was she just trying to push him today? Gajeel even came over and put an arm on Laxus’ shoulder, a silent reminder for him to remain calm.

Obra was next. He launched some cat like creature at the MPF and got a score of 4. No one in Fairy Tail was willing to believe that was anything but intentional. Mato wouldn’t let Obra retry and they were moving on. Olga used his black lightning to get a score of 3825. Everyone was amazed by the high score. Even Laxus was distracted from his jealousy by Olga but for a different reason. He was fascinated by the black lightning. It scared the dragon inside him and made him excited to fight the man.

Jura followed Olga and after getting permission to use his full power on the MPF he scored 8544. It seemed that Jura was going to be the clear victor. No one was expecting Cana to get in the quadruple numbers. Mato called Cana up next.

“You’re so sweet, saving the best for last.” She hiccupped as she walked to the MPF. She stripped off her jacket to keep it for being damaged by the spell she was about to cast. She heard the gasps from the people around her when they saw her scared shoulder. She tried not to let it get to her. “Now, the grand finale!” she called out, holding up her arm to show off the marks for Fairy Glitter. She still wasn’t able to lift that arm straight up without pain, but she handled it for the time it took for her to cast the spell. She destroyed the MPF and was given a score of 9999.

“There’s no stopping us! We’ve just started to rock your world! Fairy Tail will be number one again!” She shouted out over the cheers of the crowed. She felt like she was on top of the world and it was all thanks to Master Mavis. She had put her faith in Cana twice now. The first time Cana had failed but this time she succeeded and soon Fairy Tail would be on top again.

Bacchus came over to her, holding her jacket out for her. “That was …”

Cana cut him off. “If you say Wild, I will kick your ass in front of everybody.”

“…Hot” he decided to finish with. He wasn’t going to risk being on the receiving end of a spell like that.

Cana took her jacket from him but didn’t put it on as they headed to the hallway that lead out of the arena. Once they were out of the view of the crowed Cana pushed Bacchus against a wall and slammed her mouth on his. It was a fast, aggressive kiss and he barely had time to process what was happening before she was moving away.

“What was that for?” He asked, smiling at her.

She just smirked at him before walking away. “Oh, stay for away from Laxus if you value your life.” She threw over her shoulder at him.

“What?!” He looked at her retreating back in shock “Ya can’t say something like that and walk away!” Cana just waved at him and kept walking.

Her team was waiting for her when she got up to their balcony. Juvia and Mira hugged her tight as Gajeel patted her on the back. “You did good, for a drunk.” He told her.

“That was wonderful.” Mira was smiling at her. “I didn’t know you could use Fairy Glitter.”

“Master Mavis just let me barrow it.” Cana said, showing them that her arm no longer had the marks.

“May Juvia ask something?” Juvia was looking nervous but Cana wasn’t sure why.

“Yeah, go ahead.” Cana grinned at her, trying to reassure her.

“What happened?” Juvia was looking at Cana’s shoulder. “Juvia does not remember seeing that when we were on Tenrou Island.”

Cana put on her jacket to cover the scaring. She noticed how Laxus had his back to the group when she walked in. She resisted the urge to look at him when she heard Juvia’s question. “What can I say, some asshole got the drop on me a while ago. I hardly even notice it anymore.” It was only a part lie.

Laxus hadn’t seen Cana’s shoulder since the day he had attacked her. It looked like she wasn’t healing at all from it. It was scared over thanks to Wendy, but it still looked bad. His dragon had been angry when it first saw it until Laxus reminded it that they had caused it. The dragon now seemed to be sulking in its guilt. That was fine by Laxus, the bastard was getting a little annoying in his book. “You did good.” He told her. “But it’s not over yet.”

The battle portion of the day was ready to start. The first match was Millianna from Mermaid Heel against Semmes from Quatro Puppy. Millianna was the victor. The second battle was Eve from Blue Pegasus verse Rufus from Sabertooth. Eve was able to put a decent fight but Rufus was victorious with his memory maker magic. Laxus again found similarities between Rufus and Freed. The next battle announced was between Laxus and Alexei from Raven Tail.

Laxus walked onto the field to face the armored and masked man. They knew almost every member of Raven Tail thanks to Gajeel’s undercover work but they had no information on the man in front of them. Laxus tried to pick up a scent from him but all he got was an acidic ash smell that burned his nose. Apparently, this man either really stank or he knew strong smells could overwhelm Dragon-Slayers. Laxus made a mental note not to breathe too deeply during this fight. He could feel his inner dragon coiling around him. _Can I have him?_ It asked Laxus, who ignored it for the time being.

“A mysterious member of my old man’s guild. Nice mask. Wanna tell me who you really are?” Laxus asked him. As soon as the words were out everything around them took on a gray hue and there was another version of him and Alexei fighting in front of him. The ghost version of Laxus wasn’t even putting up a fight. “Care to explain what’s going on here?”

“A type of illusory magic.” Alexei explained. “It’s the only way we could have a private conversation. Those around us cannot see or hear us even though we are standing right in front of them. They’re watching an illusion of the two of us fighting.” Laxus didn’t say anything so Alexei continued talking. “Incredibly convincing, isn’t it? Not a single person has noticed. They are too busy watching you struggle to stand your ground in a losing fight.”

Laxus watched the fight that was playing out. It was pathetic, really. How could anyone believe him to be that weak? The ghost version of himself wasn’t even trying to doge or use his magic. _He insults us. He is making us look weak. You promised I could have fun. Let me kill him._ His dragon was shouting in his head the same time his friends were shouting at the ghost version of him to start fighting back.

“It must be nice to know your guild mates hold you in such high regard. I’m sure they’re absolutely heartbroken. Watching you fall to your enemy like this.” Alexei wouldn’t shut up, he was trying to play into Laxus’ pride and it was working on the dragon inside him but Laxus was better than that now.

_I will not lose to him like this! Our mate will never return if we allow this! You promised me!_

“Oh, shut up.” Laxus groaned, he was talking to his dragon but Alexei thought he was talking to him. “So, this is your plan? It doesn’t make any sense at all. What’s the point of beating me with an illusion? I mean can you even call that a win?”

“Obviously, victory in this match is not our ultimate goal. The purpose of the illusion is to distract those around us. And if I control the illusion, I control the outcome of the match as well.” Alexei told him. Laxus watched as the ghost fight changed and he was now getting the upper hand on Alexei. After a few hard hits though the matched changed again so Alexei was again beating Laxus.

“So that’s your idea of controlling the match? You think I care?” The man Laxus was supposed to be fighting was clearly close to his father. This was the kind of crap his father would try and pull. He also clearly knew Laxus was a prideful man or use to be before he was kicked out of Fairy Tail. This man was working on seven-year-old information and he was going to regret it.

“The point is, I can arrange for you to win this match depending on how our negotiations fare.” Alexei told him.

Laxus took off his coat and got ready for the real fight. His inner dragon was ecstatic when he felt Laxus starting to pull on its power. His lightning starting to spark around him. “Ain’t no way I’m falling for that. I don’t really give a crap about your stupid illusion. But I can’t wait to get my hands on the real you so I can defeat you here and now!”

“That’s not going to happen.” The voice came from behind Alexei. Flare seemed to appear right out of the shadows. She wasn’t alone, the rest of Raven Tail was with her.

“Reality can be pretty harsh sometimes.” Nullpudding was beside Flare, laughing.

“Your power is impressive, but not even the strongest of wizards could defeat all of Raven Tail at once. There’s one more thing to consider.” Alexei reached up and removed his mask, revealing that he was really Master Ivan. “I’m sure you’re aware of just how powerful I am. Aren’t you, my boy?”

Laxus wasn’t surprised at all to find it was his father under the mask. His dragon inside calmed down at the reveal. Ivan was family, Ivan gave him life. How could he fight the man that allowed him to exist? Laxus felt sick at the way his dragon was looking up to the man. He did appreciate the clear head it was giving him though. “You know, I had a feeling you were behind that mask. My deadbeat dad.”

“Makarov would rather die than reveal the secret. On the other hand, you’re a different story. Surely I can depend on my son.” Alexei said. Laxus had no idea what he was going on about now. “Now, tell me where to find the Lumen Histoire.”

“The what? Sorry, never heard of it.” Laxus rubbed the back of his head, he was starting to get a headache. Had he missed something while arguing with himself or was his old man just crazy?

“Don’t try to play dumb with me. If Makarov was to tell anyone it would be his beloved grandson.” Alexei was shouting at him in anger.

Laxus had to try not to laugh. ‘Beloved grandson’? His father had no idea what had been happening in Fairy Tail since he left. If Makarov had his way Laxus wouldn’t even be here right now. If his dad wanted to believe that Makarov depended on him, then who was Laxus to burst his bubble. “I guess not ‘cause I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“He must have told you something about it!” The frustration on Ivan’s face was really entertaining to Laxus.

“Nope.” He shrugged and leveled cold eyes on his father. “But even if the old geezer had, it’s not like I would ever tell you.”

“Come now, I’m offering you the opportunity to emerge victorious from what is otherwise an utterly hopeless situation. If you dare to refuse my terms your illusory form won’t be the only one getting a thrashing.” Laxus watched as the Raven Tail team moved in closer around their Master.

“You think you can scare me? Better think again old man. It’s no wonder the old geezer gave up on you. Come at me. All of you. If you’re an enemy of Fairy Tail’s master then that makes you my enemy too.” Laxus wasn’t going to let anyone harm Fairy Tail or the old geezer if he could stop it.

“I think it’s about time for your father to teach you an important lesson. The guild standing before you was created for one reason. To take down Fairy Tail once and for all.” Ivan informed him.

“So, you created Raven Tail just to take us down, huh?”

“Isn’t he brilliant?” Flare praised him. More like he was stupid. He was going to take them down without knowing the most basic inner workings of Fairy Tail. No wonder he tried to hire Gajeel as a spy, man was seriously lacking information.

“I’ve handpicked every member of our guild because they each specialize in a form of magic that Fairy Tail members are woefully ill-equipped to deal with.” Ivan seemed proud of the guild he had crated.

“And aside from our Master, we’re the four most elite.” Blacksnake spoke for the first time.

“Taking us all on would be akin to suicide, boy.” Ivan assured him

“Oh yeah?” That sounded like a challenge to Laxus. It was enough to pull his dragon’s head out its ass. _He thinks he can beat us? He thinks he can take down a dragon?_

“We’ve spent years learning the best way to bring you to your knees. But if words aren’t enough, by all means, test out power, and see what happens.” Ivan was smirking at him.

“The old geezer has been doing his homework too, you know.” Laxus was about to have fun crushing his father’s illusion, both the one he was casting and the one in his head. He watched as the team put together that Gajeel had not been spying for them, but for Fairy Tail. How they knew everything about the workings of Raven Tail thanks to Gajeel.

“If Makarov knew our secret, why didn’t he act on it when he had the chance?” Ivan asked.

“Because the stubborn old fool had a real knack for holding back when he shouldn’t. You left Fairy Tail alone while we were gone. You didn’t make trouble for his children and as long as things had stayed that way, he wasn’t going to cause trouble for you. He had faith in you.” Laxus saw the shocked look on Ivan’s face. “Hurts, huh? After everything you’ve done, the old geezer still managed to have a little faith in you ‘cause you’re his son.”

Ivan lost his temper at that. “Silence!” He launched a full force attack on Laxus, his magic infused paper dolls attacking him like a storm. Laxus didn’t even try to doge or retaliate. “Every waking moment I lived in the shadows was to prepare for this day! All so I could finally have the Lumen Histoire within my grasp! Did he think I was being passive out of the goodness of my heart? Of course I wasn’t! Because I knew your guild’s pathetic leftovers wouldn’t know anything about what I wanted! The guildhall, Magnolia, even Tenrou Island itself! I checked every nook remotely connected to Fairy Tail. But I still never found it! Tell me where the Lumen Histoire is, Laxus! Stop hiding it! You’re my son, aren’t you? Where’s your loyalty to your family?” He lunched on last full power attack at Laxus but even after everything Laxus was standing there unharmed.

Laxus had been testing his father’s power and he wasn’t impressed. He could have sworn Ivan had been more powerful before he left Fairy Tail. Maybe it was the Laxus was simply that much stronger. The dragon inside was back to fighting with itself. It seemed to be against harming what it saw as family but Laxus didn’t have that same weakness. Ivan wasn’t his family, not anymore.

“I was wondering why you just stood there and took it. You were testing the limits of my magic power, weren’t you? Good to know that some things will never change. Or is it something else? Can’t bring yourself to strike your father? What a good boy you are, my sweet little Laxus.” Ivan was smiling at Laxus, taunting him.

Before Laxus could correct his father, he heard someone shout his name. He had been ignoring the battle around them and the crowed up until that point. It was Makarov that was calling out to him. When Laxus looked up at him he saw Makarov holding up the Fairy Tail salute. The one that he and Laxus came up with together. The one that meant they were together, even if they couldn’t see each other, even if they weren’t at your side, they were always there with you.

 _That is our family._ He told his inner dragon. _Fairy Tail is our family. The old man is nothing to us. He is the reason our family is hurting. He attacked us, his guild attacked us. They need to pay._ His words must have got through to the dragon because it roared to life and fed its power into Laxus. It was just in time too as Laxus heard Ivan ordering Obra to drain Laxus of his magic power. That was what happened to Wendy before the games, he was the man that attacked the child.

Laxus took Obra down with one lightning strike. “Next time you pick on a little girl, you better make sure I don’t hear about it!”

The rest of the team attacked Laxus at that point. “As for you, Gray sends his regards.” Laxus said as he dodged an attack from Nullpudding and knocked the man out with a lightning punch. His attention the turned to Flare. “What kind of filth threatens a child?” His dragon had been wanting to get revenge for her threats to Asuka. It took her down with a full-strength Lightning Dragon: Roar. That only left Blacksnake between him and Ivan. “Man, you are a creep.” He said as the man tried to sneak up behind him. “Get lost, loser.” With a lightning strike Blacksnake was tossed into the air. Only Ivan was left

“How? My elite squads been taken out?” Laxus could smell the fear coming off Ivan, his voice shaking.

“Look, deadbeat. I don’t know what your goal is here, and frankly I don’t care. There’s only one thing you’re getting for all your trouble. Pain!” Laxus let his dragon take over fully, the scales covering his body as claw grew. It felt good to let go after holding back for so long.

“No, Wait! I am still your father! Don’t you have any respect? You would harm me? Laxus! I’m your own flesh and blood!” Ivan was terrified. He had never seen the full extent of his son’s power.

“Fairy Tail is my only family now!” The dragon roared. “Anyone who threatens them gets no mercy from me!” He attacked Ivan and knocked him out with one punch. He had just enough time to rein in the dragon and return to his normal appearance before the illusion vanished and the crowed was able to see the aftermath of the real battle.

There was a few minutes of confusion as everyone tried to process what had just happened. Laxus didn’t pay much attention to the commotion around him. His dragon was still itching for another battle. That had been too easy. It was taking a lot of effort for Laxus to keep from lashing out against his father more. Once he felt he was in control he went to leave the arena. Guards had already come down to arrest the Raven Tail team.

“Wait, Laxus.” Ivan called out as Laxus walked past. Laxus stopped in his tracks, not because he cared what Ivan had to say, but because his control was slipping again. “I admit I lost this round. But there’s something you should know. The Lumen Histoire is Fairy Tail’s darkest secret of all. Someday you’re going to learn that first hand. Then you’ll know what your ‘Family’ really is.”

Laxus didn’t care. He took a deep breath to settle the dragon again before walking away. He went to the team’s locker room for some alone time. If he went anywhere near Gajeel he was likely to challenge him to a fight. As for Cana, he didn’t know what he would do if she was around. He felt the pull to be with her but with that drunk’s scent still on her … It probably would end bloody.

Cana was waiting for Laxus to come back to the team. The judges had decided to disqualify Raven Tail for their behavior and ban them from the games for three years. It wasn’t enough in Cana’s mind, but it would have to do for now. At least they were out of their hair. Cana didn’t know what had happened in the ring, but she knew that confronting Ivan after all these years was going to be hard on Laxus. When he didn’t return by the time the fight between Wendy and Sherria of Lamia Scale was announced, Cana went looking for him.

Cana found him in the locker room. He was standing facing the far wall. His magic was already sparking around him when she walked in. She could hear him growl lowly when she moved closer. It was a predatory growl and it stopped her in her tracks.

Laxus could smell Cana before she even entered the room. He could still smell Bacchus on her and it fed into the rage his dragon had. His control was slipping, and he could feel his magic moved across his skin, looking for a way out. When Cana moved closer he growled at her in warning. If she came to close, he didn’t know what he would do.

 _Our mate is here. She came for us. We can’t let her get away. We can get rid of that stench. We can take her! Claim her! MATE!_ The dragon was yelling at him.

 _She is not our mate! I don’t have a mate! I don’t want a mate! All you do is hurt her! Just leave us alone!_ Laxus snapped back at it.

 _She is our mate. You marked her as such. We hurt her because you will not accept her. You have to stop fighting what is already done. She is our mate!_ The dragon was frustrated with his human.

“Laxus? Are you alright?” Cana was scared. Laxus was pacing the room and pulling at his hair. Something was wrong and she didn’t know how she could calm him down.

 _Why are you doing this! Why are you causing problems now?_ Laxus was just as frustrated with his dragon as it was with him.

_Why do you deny our mate? Why have you turned your back on what is ours?_

“I don’t want her!” Laxus shouted out loud as he punched the wall putting a large size hole in it. His magic exploded out in a wave when his fist made contact. It blew everything back and against the other three wall, including Cana. She slammed into the wall beside the door, hitting her head heard enough to knock her unconscious.


	13. Dark Night

Cana came to in the infirmary. Bickslow and Porlyusica were beside her bed. Elfman was in another bed with Evergreen watching over him. Cana’s head was killing her and she could vaguely remember going down to talk to Laxus and him throwing off a large amount of magic power. She sat up slowly, holding her head. “What happened?” She asked.

“You need to lay down. You have a mild concussion. You’re lucky it wasn’t worse.” Porlyusica told her, forcing her to lay back.

“I wish I could help.” Wendy said. Cana just realizing she was in a bed of her own.

“You need your rest child. You pushed yourself to far in your fight.” Carla was beside Wendy, worrying about her like always.

“What happened?” Cana tried asking again.

“Well, we don’t really know.” Bickslow told her. “Me and Freed were on our way to see Laxus. Freed thought he might want someone to talk to after fighting his old man, you know. We heard this big explosion and found you on the floor. Laxus was on a hell of a rampage.” Bickslow smiled at her, his tongue handing out of his mouth. “I don’t know what you did to piss him off, but it was great.” His babies repeated “Great” while laughing along with Bickslow.

She sat up again, ignoring the disapproving look from Porlyusica. “Where’s Freed at?”

“Trying to calm the crazy Dragon-Slayer. Gajeel’s helping him.” Bickslow answered, his babies echoed “Helping. Helping.” It gave Cana the distinct feeling that Gajeel was, in fact, not helping at all.

“I’ll see if I can help. He listens to me sometimes.” Cana said trying to get up but Bickslow and Porlyusica stopped her.

“I wouldn’t do that.” Wendy said, sitting up on the side of her bed. “I can only barely hear him when he’s really shouting, but I think he’s angry about you.”

“What makes you say that?” Carla asked her.

“He keeps shouting about his mate.” Wendy said quietly. All eyes in the room turned to look at Cana.

“You and boss man?” Bickslow was staring at her opened mouthed. “Cana? Boss man?” His babies kept repeating like they were trying to understand.

“I’m not with Laxus. I’m getting sick of you Dragon-Slayers and your whole mate thing!” Cana’s voice hurt her head and she laid back on the bed. This felt like the worse hangover of her life.

Down in the locker room Freed had put up enchantments around the room to try and contain Laxus and his magic. They were hastily written and he wasn’t sure how long they would hold. Gajeel was inside the room with Laxus, trying to talk some sense into him. Freed didn’t understand what they were talking about and focused his attention on keeping the runes in place.

When Freed and Bickslow had come in after hearing the explosion they had found Cana unconscious on the floor and Laxus standing over her in his Dragon-Slayer form. They hadn’t known if Laxus was trying to hurt her or not and moved in to protect her. Bickslow used his babies to knock Laxus back across the room while Freed had moved Cana to safety. Laxus had ignored Bickslow and attacked Freed instead. They tried to talk to him, figure out what was wrong, but Laxus would only growl and attack them. Freed had Bickslow take Cana to the infirmary at that point and he had placed the enchantments to hold Laxus.

It was shortly after Bickslow left that Gajeel showed up. He convinced Freed to let him so he could try and calm Laxus down. It seemed to have some effect because once Gajeel entered the room Laxus stopped his pacing and was staring at Gajeel. If it was because he was calming down or because he was planning to attack Freed didn’t know.

“So, your old man, that’s got to suck.” Gajeel said. He was staying a safe distance back and was talking in a low tone so only Laxus would be able to hear. “Wish I had known he was going to pull that. I would have given you a warning.”

“This isn’t about my old man.” Laxus ran his hand through his hair, the static charge making it stand up in places.

 _He’s mated. He understands. He knows I’m right. You can’t fight what we both want._ The dragon inside had been fighting with Laxus ever since the battle ended. It had nearly gained full control over him when Freed and Bickslow took Cana away. If it had been anyone else Laxus might have killed them but Bickslow and Freed were like brothers to him. The were close enough that even his dragon thought twice about harming them.

Laxus put his hands over his ears, squeezing his head like it would get the voice to stop. His magic flared out again, attracted to the Iron Dragon-Slayer. “Would you shut up.” He snarled

Gajeel was just able to get out of the way of Laxus’ lightning. “I didn’t say anything, man.”

_You are the one that choose her. Why are you fighting me on this? We will only be stronger with her at our side. She is the Mate you wanted. You are the one that chose her and awakened me. It’s time to fulfill your promise._

“I didn’t choose nothing. I want you to go away. I don’t need you. I’m powerful on my own!” Laxus wasn’t aware he was arguing out loud nor did he care.

Gajeel was starting to put together what was going on. Laxus was fighting with his dragon and if he couldn’t calm one of them down they would tear each other apart. Laxus clearly wasn’t listening to him so he had to try and get the dragon to relax. “Lily! I need you to find Wendy and bring her here. What ever you do, keep Cana far away from here.” He called out to his exceed that was just outside the room.

When he mentioned Cana’s name Laxus’ attention shot to him. His eyes were golden, the pupils slits. “Mate.” It was a low growl, his voice deep.

Gajeel watched as Laxus’ eyes changed back to their normal stormy gray. “I don’t have a Mate!”

Gajeel used his Iron Dragon Club to slam Laxus into a wall and hold him there. “Sorry to say, but I’m siding with the dragon on this one. You have a mate if ya like it or not.” Laxus was fighting against Gajeel but his dragon refused to attack him seeing he had sided with it in the battle. It left Laxus unable to tap into his magic and had to fight with just his fist. Laxus was not a small man though and Gajeel still had to fight to hold him. He would do his best to keep him in place until Lily got back with Wendy.

Lily flew into the infirmary and went right to Wendy’s bed. “Come quickly, Gajeel needs your assistance.” He told her.

“She will not be going anywhere. She needs to recover still.” Carla told him.

“I’m okay Carla, really. If Gajeel needs help then things must be bad.” Wendy said as she got up from the bed. “I don’t know how much help I’m going to be though.”

“I’m coming too.” Cana said, trying to get up. Bickslow used his babies to pin her to the bed.

“Gajeel gave me orders to keep you away. I think he believes you will only anger Laxus more.” Lily told her. Everyone in the room was giving her a look telling her to stay put. They had all told her not to go near Laxus right now.

Wendy and Lily didn’t stay to argue with Cana as they ran out of the room and to the locker room that Gajeel and Laxus were in. Freed had finally had enough time to set some good runes in place and trusted that they would hold if they couldn’t get Laxus to calm down.

“What do you need me to do?” Wendy asked Gajeel as she slowly entered the room. She was still really beat up from her fight with Sherria. Gajeel still had Laxus pinned against the wall.

“Just go up to him. He won’t hurt ya, I swear.” Gajeel could sense Wendy’s fear. His own dragon felt it and wanted to protect her. He was hoping that Laxus’ dragon would have the same instinct.

Laxus stopped fighting against Gajeel as Wendy came closer. He could smell her fear and see that she had been injured recently. _The child is scared. Who is hurting the child?_

“Laxus? What’s wrong?” Wendy asked him.

“Why are you scared?” Laxus asked her. Gajeel slowly released his hold on Laxus.

“I’m worried about you. You’re my friend.” Wendy said as she moved closer.

 _She is scared of us?_ His dragon sounded confused.

 _Of course, she is. You’re nothing but a big brute, basically foaming at the mouth over this mate thing. You would scare anyone._ Laxus told it.

 _She is our mate._ It said stubbornly.

 _And you think this will make her want us? You nearly killed her. You always hurt her when we lose our temper._ Laxus felt the guilt from hurting Cana. He didn’t know if it came from him or the dragon or both.

“I know you didn’t mean to hurt anyone.” Wendy said. “You’re just upset. It’s okay to be upset every now and then.” She reached out and touched Laxus’ shoulder.

Laxus moved faster than anyone could see. He pulled Wendy into a crushing hug with his face buried in her hair. _Kin._ His dragon purred. Having the young Dragon-Slayer there was calming to his dragon. He had a need to keep her safe and calm. It was this strange paternal instinct that Laxus had never felt before.

Gajeel sighed in relief that his plan had worked. He watched as Laxus’ scales and claws receded. “Sparky, you _need_ to stop fighting with your dragon.”

Laxus glared up at him. He was refusing to let go of Wendy. She was the soothing balm his dragon needed. “It’s not my fault the thing is an ass.”

“The dragon is just meant to help you.” Wendy explained. “I mean, that’s how it works for me anyways. My dragon has always guided me the right way.”

“Things get a little different once you mate.” Gajeel explained. “I’ve noticed the change. Can’t say I haven’t butted heads with it a time or two lately, but I always have Levy to balance things out. If you are dead set on not being with Cana, then you better figure out how to get your dragon on board.” Gajeel warned him.

“Why was I able to calm him?” Wendy asked. She didn’t know much about mating or what happens because if it. Gandeeney never got the chance to teach her much about it because she had been so young. She figured that when she was ready for a mate she would ask one of the older Dragon-Slayers about it.

“Paternal instincts. Comes with being mated. Once you got a mate your dragon wants kids. You’re still young enough to activate that in us, squirt.” Gajeel smiled at her and saw Wendy blushed. He knew she hated being seen as a kid but it came in handy right now.

Laxus finally let Wendy go. “Well this has all been informative, but I have some things I have to take care of.” Laxus felt weak. He had used a lot of magic power between the fight and his out burst. His dragon also seemed to be cutting him off from its power. He knew the thing was sulking and would leave him alone for a few hours now.

“I mean it Laxus, get you’re shit worked out!” Gajeel shouted at him as he walked to the door. Laxus waited for Freed to drop the runes before he could leave. He could see his friend was worried about him but he had things he needed to sort out and didn’t need Freed hanging on him while he did it. Instead he gathered what magic power he could and disappeared in a clap of thunder.

There was a knock on the door to the infirmary before Bacchus walked in. “I heard you got hurt.” He said, talking to Cana.

“Who told you that?” She asked, surprised to see him there.

“Some guy with long green hair.” He had just run into Freed while he had been looking for Cana after the games. Most of the crowed had left before he saw the Fairy Tail member. He had asked about Cana and was just told he could find her there. “What happened?”

“Boss man went ape shit.” Bickslow started and Cana hit him in the stomach to shut him up. His babies still chorused “Ape shit” which, Cana had to admit, was hilarious. 

“I don’t think he would like you talking about him with the competition.” Evergreen told Bickslow.

Bacchus waved in greeting to Elfman who was still bandaged and waved back. “One of your guild members did this?”

“I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I’m fine.” Cana didn’t like everyone worrying about her. “I just want to get out of here.”

“I guess that can be allowed. It is only a mild concussion, you were lucky.” Porlyusica told her. “But you will need someone to watch over you for the next 48 hours.” She ordered.

“I’ll watch her.” Bacchus quickly volunteered. Two days where Cana wasn’t allowed out of his sight, sounded Wild to him.

“No drinking,” She gave Cana a pointed look, “Or strenuous activity.” She turned her eyes to Bacchus. Both started to object but she cut them off. “Or you could stay here for two days.” That stopped the arguments. After they both agreed to the terms of Cana’s release, she was free to go.

Bacchus walked with his arm around Cana again. He was leading her on a stroll around Crocus. He wanted a chance to talk to her in private. He didn’t know why he was so interested in her so quickly. It wasn’t unusual for him to pick up girls at bars and leave them the next day. Cana was interesting to him though. She was outspoken and confident in public but under that she was shy and he could tell she was hurting. Maybe it was the gentlemen hidden deep, deep inside that wanted to reach out and help her. He took her to a small café where they could get a bite to eat and be alone to talk. “So, what happened today?”

Cana sighed. She thought about not answering but in truth, if he was going to hang around her, he needed to know. “Laxus lost his temper … again.”

“Again? He’s done this to you before?” He remembers her warning to stay away from Laxus, was this why she had said that?

“Not like this. This was worse then I’ve seen since he tried to take over Fairy Tail and have me killed.”

“He tried to what?” Bacchus couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“I guess I’m not explaining this very, well, am I?” Cana leaned back in her chair and looked at the sky for a few moments. “It’s not really easy to explain. I guess the simple version is that he is a possessive ass.”

Bacchus pulled her close to him until she was forced to move into his lap. “You two use to date?”

“No,” She shook her head, “More like long term fuck buddies. Only a few people even knew about it. He ended things about three months ago.” She couldn’t keep the sadness out of her voice. She tried to ignore the pain in her chest.

Bacchus wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close. He nuzzled her neck before lightly kissing over the scars there. “Did he give you these?”

Cana leaned her head to the side to give him better access. “Dragon-Slayers like to bite. I enjoy being bit.” She answered honestly. Jumping in surprise when he nipped her. His canines weren’t elongated like a Dragon-Slayer, but they were sharp. When he bit down over another mark she was expecting it and moaned softly in return.

“If he ended thing then what does he have to be possessive about?” His fingers were running over a ragged scar she had on her left hip, just above the waistband on her pants.

Cana couldn’t help but squirm under his touch. He was teasing to get information, and it was working. “Apparently once a Dragon-Slayer claims you, you always belong to them. Even after they toss you away.” She had to bit back another moan when he ran his tongue around her ear before biting it gently. “Harder.” She breathed.

Bacchus chuckled lightly in her ear. “His loss, my gain.” He said before biting down harder on her ear.

Cana gasped and wiggled in his lap, earning her a groan from Bacchus as her butt ground into his erection. “You keep this up and Porlyusica will be coming after you.”

“Why should I be scared of that old lady?” He trailed kisses down her neck, nipping at each of the marks left by Laxus.

“She makes pissed off Laxus look like a teddy bear.” Cana warned him, laughing when Bacchus froze.

“You’re joking.” He didn’t sound sure and moved away from her a little.

“Really wish I was.” She sighed as she moved out of his lap.

They moved on to friendlier topics after that. What it was like growing up in Fairy Tail, how she was adjusting to being gone for seven years. What it was like in Quarto Cerberus. They spent what was left of the afternoon just getting to know each other.

It was well after dark when Makarov found Laxus hiding out in one of the many parks in the city. “Boy, we need to talk.”

Laxus groaned, he knew this lecture was coming. This time he had his own ammo against the old geezer. “Yeah, we sure do.”

“What happened today is … “ Makarov started but Laxus cut him off.

“No worse than anything Natsu pulls on a daily basis.” Laxus said, continuing when Makarov opened his mouth to speak. “I’m not Natsu and you expect more out of me. You expect me to have better control over myself and not to lash out foolishly. You’re disappointed in me and regret allowing me back into the guild. Does that about sum it up, old geezer?”

Makarov glared at him. Laxus had taken the words right out of his mouth but he wasn’t going to let him get away with that. “This isn’t a game, boy.”

“I never said it was.” Laxus was trying not to let his frustration show. His dragon was sleeping now but strong emotions could wake it up. “You think I wanted to hurt anyone? There’s a reason I stay away from the guild, stay away from people. It’s not like you ever cared to notice.”

“I did notice.” Makarov said. He was perfectly able to keep his cool. “Your brand of magic is volatile. We can see that much in Natsu and Gajeel’s past behavior. I had always thought you had better control over it than those two. That you were not the type to let it influence you.”

“Sorry to be such a disappointment to you.” Laxus took down his own father and four members of the guild that has been torturing Fairy Tail for the last three days and all his grandfather could focus on was his momentary slip of control. He was already ashamed of himself, he didn’t need the old geezer adding to it.

Makarov had nothing to say to Laxus about that. He still had yet to forgive him for the Fantasia incident. “About Ivan, do you know what he was after?”

“Yeah, something called the Lumen Histoire. Want to tell me about it?” Laxus asked, the look on Makarov’s face said he did not want to talk about it. “He tried to tell me that it’s Fairy Tails ‘Darkest secret’. Whatever that means.”

“It’s not dark at all.” It was a sweet, childlike voice that answered him. They both looked up to see Master Mavis approaching them. “The Lumen Histoire. It’s actually what brings light into our guild.”

“Remember you mustn’t tell him.” Makarov warned her, looking over to Laxus. This was something he should never even know existed.

“Yeah, I know.” She smiled at them. “It’s top-secret information that’s only shared with those who serve as guild master.” She gave Laxus an apologetic look. “Sorry, I hope you understand, Laxus.”

He shrugged, he never had any real interest in figuring out what it was anyways. “Hey, as long as it ain’t something weird I got no reason to pry.”

“Aw, thanks. You’re the best.” Her big smile was infectious and it has Laxus smiling slightly too. “You’re to hard on him sometimes Makarov. He really is a good boy you raised. He has a good heart and determination to help others. You can’t fault someone for getting a little emotional sometimes. Our emotions are what make us human after all.”

Both Laxus and Makarov were staring at her with their mouths open. Was the first master really standing up for Laxus? He really didn’t feel like he deserved that. He didn’t want his grandfather looking down at him anymore but he never expected master Mavis to defend him.

“Maybe I have been a little tough on the boy.” Makarov admitted to Mavis, not addressing Laxus at all.

“Oh, that’s okay.” She told him. “You just worry about him. You want what’s best for him in the end.”

“I just don’t want him to turn out like Ivan. I don’t know where I went wrong with him.” Makarov shook his head.

“Don’t worry, old geezer. I ain’t ever going to be like my old man.” Laxus turned his back to them, getting ready to leave. “I’m sure you two have some stuff to discuss. I’ll get out of your hair.”

Makarov just hummed in acknowledgement. He didn’t stop Laxus when he left. He and master Mavis had to figure out what to do with Ivan. He honestly was happy to have the first master around. He had a feeling they would need her guidance in the near future.

 Cana had spent the afternoon with Bacchus. They had lunch and showered at his hotel before they went to the Honeybone to hang out with her guild mates. Cana didn’t have anything against the boys of Quatro Cerberus but she felt more comfortable around her friends. She had even been talked into going out without her jacket tonight. Bacchus was being strict about not letting her drink and it seemed that most of the guild had no idea what happened earlier that day with Laxus.

“I wouldn’t get between Cana and her booze if you know what’s good for ya.” Wakaba warned Bacchus the first time he took her beer away and drank it before she got a chance to even sip it.

“I know how to handle Wild women.” Bacchus pulled Cana into a kiss. She deepened it, chasing after the taste of her beer on his lips. She wasn’t sure how it happened but she ended up straddling him on the bench, moaning into his mouth.

“That taste good on you. Might be my new favorite way to drink.” Cana said when she finally pulled away from him.

Bacchus chuckled at her, mumbling “Wild” under his breath. He turned her so she was sitting across his lap but held her close. After that he was more then happy to let her have any drink she wanted in the same fashion as the first. The first few times she would look around nervously before she kissed him. He knew that she wasn’t shy about people seeing them, she was worried about Laxus showing up. After a few kisses though she relaxed and stopped worrying about Laxus.

Bacchus was only starting to put together the strange relationship that was Cana and Laxus. He knew about the scars he left on her neck but from what he could tell they were leftover from love bites. He was willing to bet the marks on her hips were somehow from him too. None of that seemed to explain why Cana was so nervous about him. When he had tried to ask questions about it she would dodge them. He had only known her for a few days so it wasn’t really his place to ask but he was still curious. Just as he was curious about the rest of her scars.

“Where did this come from?” He asked, running his fingers over the jagged scar on her hip from earlier.

She squirmed away from him a little, her side was ticklish. “Vulcan threw me into a rock when I was 12. I didn’t realize how big they were or that they live in packs. In hind sight I probably shouldn’t have gone on my own.”

Bacchus smiled at the idea of a 12-year-old Cana taking on a pack of Vulcans alone. “I bet they were terrified of ya.”

She laughed as he pulled her closer to him again, resting her head on his shoulder. “They were shaking in their fur.”

He traced another scar that ran right under her left breast. This one was straight and smooth. You wouldn’t even notice it without getting up close and personal, which he had, of course. “What about this one?”

Cana’s breath hitched when his knuckles brushed over her breast. “Bandits, one threw a knife at me a few years ago. It just barely got me.”

“And this?” He traced one that went across the top of the same breast and followed it under her top. He smiled at how her breathing changed and she pressed her chest into his hand.

“Same bandits.” Her voice came out breathless. Cana was actually surprised he was able to affect her so much with such simple touches. She had even forgot they were in a crowded bar with most of her close friends around them.

“What about this one? Don’t tell me it was bandits again.” He rubbed the web like pattern on her left arms.

Cana flinched and pulled away like he burned her. “That’s nothing.” She said quickly. She put her hand over the marks and tried to get out of his lap. Bacchus wrapped his arms around her to keep her in place.

“Off limits, I got it. Ya don’t have to run away from me.” He pulled her close and kissed the sweet spot behind her ear that he knew she liked so much. “I ain’t going to pry if ya don’t want to tell me.”

Cana relaxed against him. Bacchus was really a unique man but Cana was starting to like him. “I’ll tell you, if you want to know, just not here.” She told him softly. She wasn’t able to talk to anyone about the things Laxus had done to her and for some reason, now that things were over, she really wanted to talk to someone. She couldn’t tell Lucy or Levy because they would both get the wrong idea. She still loved Laxus and was worried that if they knew what he had done to her they would tell the Master and he would kick Laxus out of the guild again.

“I have an empty hotel room just waiting to hear all your secrets.” He told her. And with that they both left, arm in arm, to go to his hotel. Cana was nervous, and he could sense that so they simply walked in uncomfortable silence. Bacchus had a feeling he was about to learn more about Cana then he had ever expected, more than anyone else knew.

Bacchus didn’t try to pressure her when they got back to his hotel room. He filled his gourd and sat on the bed. Cana sat next to him and leaned against his side. “It’s going to sound worse then it is. No one in my guild knows because I don’t want them to get the wrong idea.”

“Like how ya don’t want them to get the wrong idea about today?” He tried not to let his irritation show. He didn’t like the fact that Cana was protecting Laxus after he gave her a concussion, mild or not.

“Laxus has a temper. Trust me, I’m well aware of that.” Cana rubbed her arm absentmindedly. “This was the first time he really lost his temper with me.”

“What did he do?” He kept his voice calm in hopes Cana would keep talking.

“His lightning got away from him while we were arguing. It was really my fault. I was sleeping around a lot back then and well … possessive asshole.” She said it like that was a valid excuse. “I didn’t know he was waiting for me at my place and came home after hooking up with someone. I mean, compared to today, it was a mild reaction. He was in a really bad place then to begin with. This happened right before the Fantasia incident.” Cana was talking quickly, trying to explain things before Bacchus could jump to any conclusions.

“Fantasia incident?” Bacchus asked, taking a long drink from his gourd, he wasn’t nearly drunk enough to handle what he knew was coming. There had been an article in Sorcerers Weekly about how Fairy Tail had a city wide battle during Magnolia’s Harvest Festival as some sort of entertainment. He never really believed that story, of course Fairy Tail was a unusual guild.

“Well … Laxus called it the Fight of Fairy Tail. He was trying to prove he was strong enough to take over as master. He has matured a lot since then and no one was seriously hurt.” Her hands went down to her stomach. She felt her throat tighten up and tears burn in her eyes as she remembered what she had lost that day. She thought that she was over the loss of her child but right then it hurt just as much as if it happened yesterday.

Bacchus saw the tears in her eyes and pulled her into a tight hug. “If no one was hurt, why are ya crying?”

“I … my … I was … pregnant.” She fought though the tears to get the words out before she broke down into sobs. It was the first time she had told anyone about her pregnancy since it had happened. For the first time she let it slip back into her mind. If she hadn’t lost her child she wouldn’t have gone to Tenrou Island for the S-Class trial. She wouldn’t have lost seven years of her life. She would have a six-year-old child to love. Her life would be completely different if it hadn’t been for Laxus.

Bacchus didn’t say anything, he didn’t know what to say. He just held her, rubbing her back and rocking her slightly. He was able to piece together from her reaction that she had lost the pregnancy and it was because of something that had happened that day. He had never lost a child, never even got a girl pregnant, so he couldn’t imagine what she was going through. He could tell it hurt and so he did what he could to sooth that.

When she started to calm down she moved away from him, wiping at her eyes. He held out his gourd to her in offer of a drink. Screw what her healer had said, she needed it right then. “I won’t tell if you don’t.”

Cana nodded and took it from him, drinking down more than she probably should. She could instantly feel the warms spread through her body and her brain starting to get fuzzy. This stuff could get someone drunk fast, probably even kill someone. “I’m sorry. I just couldn’t stop myself.”

“Ya have no reason to be sorry. That asshole did something that killed your child. Ya have every right to be upset.” He pulled her into his arms again. “What else has he done to ya?” Bacchus hoped that was the end but knew it wasn’t. Cana was still defending him, protecting him, Their relationship didn’t end there.

“He was kicked out of the guild after that. I didn’t see him again until everything went down on Tenrou Island.” She was starting to feel numb from the liquor and the words just came out with no emotion behind them. “He risked his life to save us all from Grimoire Hearts. I wasn’t mad about Fantasia anymore at that point. He didn’t know about … about my condition. I don’t blame him for what happened. I was stupid, I shouldn’t have gotten involved.”

Bacchus kissed her temple. He hated that she was placing all the blame on herself for Laxus’ actions. “Please, don’t blame yourself.”

Cana just sighed before continuing. “It was the first time I had seen him in months and things took off right from where we left them. Things were going well until Lucy found us.” Bacchus remembered the mage on the other Fairy Tail team that got her ass kicked. She wouldn’t stand a chance against someone like Laxus. “That was the first time I saw his Dragon-Slayer side take over in anger. I had to stop him from … hurting Lu. I got burned pretty badly but the healing springs on the island kept that from scaring.”

Cana took another drink from Bacchus gourd, a smaller one this time. She still had a hard time believe that Laxus might have truly killed Lucy. “I knew better than to touch Laxus with his magic surrounding him like it was. I mean it is meant to kill dragons, but I wasn’t thinking. I was just worried about Lu.”

“Why are you defending him?” Bacchus asked quietly.

“Because I love him.” She said it without thinking. Once she realized what she said she tried taking it back. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“It’s fine. I figured ya had feeling for him. That doesn’t excuse what he’s done to ya.” He was trying not to sound judgmental.

“He is a good person. Everyone has their problems. Laxus just had a few more than most.” It was a weak excuse, even to Cana’s ears. This was the first time she had been challenged about everything Laxus had done to her and she was having a hard time justifying it.

“Would a good person do this to someone that loves them?” He asked, running his fingers over the scaring on her shoulder. He had no doubt now that Laxus had caused it. The way Cana wouldn’t meet his eyes only confirmed his assumptions.

“That was an actual accident. I startled him when he was upset.”

“He attacked because he was startled? How bad was it?” Bacchus was trying to make her face the truth. She wasn’t running away or getting angry with him so he was hoping she might me willing to listen to him.

“Bad …” She admitted. There wasn’t any way for her to downplay it. Cana knew she would have been in real trouble if Wendy wasn’t there to help. She still had nightmares sometimes over it. It wasn’t something she thought about very often. She had been more focused on the heartbreak that had followed the injury, not how she had been injured. She could feel tears coming again.

Bacchus didn’t know what to do to help Cana. The conversation was over. Bacchus just held Cana in silence while she finished off his gourd. She passed out shortly after. If it was from the drink or from her tears he wasn’t sure and didn’t care. He stayed up all night watching over her. She wasn’t suppose to be drinking and he wanted to make sure she was going to be okay. He was honestly hoping that he got a chance to go against Laxus before the Games were over.


	14. I'm sorry

Cana didn’t return to the hotel that night. It was the first thing Laxus noticed when he got in a little after midnight. Juvia and Mira were both already asleep. He could hear Gajeel in the shower and from the smell of things he had spent the first half of the night with Levy. Laxus didn’t really care what Gajeel spent his time doing but his dragon was irritated. It was jealous that this other dragon was able to be with its mate while Laxus was refusing to acknowledge their mate. Laxus could already feel the headache coming on.

He sat on his bed with his head in his hands. Laxus disliked people on his best days but lately he loathed being around them. He hated that he was being forced to stay in such a crowed city, play games to amuse others, and share his space with his team mates. All of that made him irritable and being around Cana was making his dragon really fucking annoying. Even now the thing was trying to convince Laxus to hunt her, track her scent and find her.

“Cool it, Sparky.” Gajeel said as he came into the room. Laxus had been growling without even noticing. “I take it you’re not getting along any better?”

“Shut it, Lightning Rod.” Laxus snapped at him. He didn’t want to deal with any more crap today.

“Look, I get it. Boozer is gone and it’s making ya testy. But ya need to learn to relax a little.” Gajeel told him. He sat down on his own bed and face Laxus. “Have you ever tried meditating? It helps.”

“Fuck off.” Laxus said, glaring at Gajeel. The other man sighed before laying down, clearly giving up on helping. Laxus knew how to meditate, often did as part of his training. It helped to strengthen and focus a persons magic power. After trying and failing to get to sleep for over an hour he sucked it up and took Gajeel’s advice. He sat in the center of his bed with his eyes closed and focused on his breathing. He blocked out the noise of Gajeel’s snores and Juvia talking in her sleep. As everything around him faded away he was better able to hear and feel his inner dragon, the source of his magic.

His dragon was frustrated and angry, Laxus already knew that, but under that was fear. Fear was what was driving it to lash out at Laxus and, in turn, everyone around him. The dragon truly cared for Cana and wanted to protect her. It felt that if it was not there to keep her safe than she would be in hurt or worse. It was angry at its self for everything they had done to her, how they hurt her.

 _I’m not good for her._ He thought.

 _She is our mate._ His dragon told him.

 _That doesn’t mean I’m right for her. Neither of us knew what we were getting into. I can’t just expect her to be with me because she fucked me once and became my mate._ Laxus was starting to be willing to concede on the mate thing. If it was a dragon thing then he would have to accept the fact his dragon was right.

 _You admit she is our mate?_ The dragon was feeling smug. It had finally won the battle.

 _Yes, but that means nothing to humans._ It was a dragon concept. Laxus could feel the pull of it due to his magic but Cana could not. He couldn’t force her to be with him just because his magic said so.

His dragon was quiet for a few minutes, plotting. _Do you want her?_

 _Yes._ Laxus didn’t even have to think about it. He had always wanted her, even before they were mates. It was the reason he had given in to her advancements the first time.

_Then take her. Win her from the drunk. Make her ours again and never let her go._

His dragon was thinking of a battle. Laxus knew he could take Bacchus in a fight but that wasn’t something that would win over Cana. She already thought of him as a hot head and a brute. She was a strong fighter and didn’t need anyone to protect her so she was unlikely to respond to that. He remembered what she had said the day before. She wanted what Gajeel and Levy had.

 _She wants a Mate_ His dragon said, able to see what he was thinking.

 _No, she wants love._ Laxus wanted her physically but did he want her emotionally? Could he give her what she wanted? He wasn’t sure and he was scared to try. He needed time to figure out what he wanted without his dragon screaming at him. _Bacchus will be gone in a few days and we will be back home. I’ll give her space until then. In Magnolia she will be all mine._

His dragon seemed to reluctantly agree with his plan. He felt it pull back, deeper inside him. It would give its human a few days to figure things out. Laxus felt tension he wasn’t even aware of leave his body. That night was the first time since arriving in Crocus that he was able to sleep soundly.

Cana was woken by Bacchus in the morning. She yet again woke up with her head killing her. She was starting to wonder if this was going to be a normal occurrence around Bacchus. She could remember everything they had talked about the night before and it made her feel embarrassed. She had really overshared and she wouldn’t be surprised if he decided that she had to much baggage to deal with. Hell, she admitted to being in love with another man. That was sure to chase him away.

“Here, this will help.” Bacchus held out a potion bottle to her. He was speaking softly which she was eternally grateful for. “It’s a pain relief potion the court healers gave me for my hands.”

Cana thanked him a took the potion. It began to help immediately. She felt the warmth spread over her body and the throbbing pain in her head lessened. When she handed the bottle back she noticed that he looked exhausted. “Did you not sleep well?”

“Didn’t sleep.” He told her. “Had to keep an eye on ya. Couldn’t let anything happen to my girl.”

Cana felt herself blush. “I’m sorry. You have to compete today. You should have been the one sleeping.” She was looking at her hands where they sat in her lap.

Bacchus gently grabbed her chin and made her look at him. “No need to be sorry.” He kissed her lightly. She had been through a lot yesterday and he was the one that had encouraged her to drink. It was only fair that he be the one to stay up and look after her.

Cana wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in for a deeper kiss. She straddled his lap, pressing her body against his.

“No strenuous activity.” He reminded her gently.

“I won’t tell if you don’t.” She said, using his own words against him.

Bacchus laughed lightly but moved her out of his lap. “We need to shower. Don’t need a repeat of yesterday.”

Cana groaned but knew he was right and got up. “Shower with me?” She offered.

Bacchus laughed and shook his head at himself. Cana was not afraid to go after what she wanted and, really, who was he to turn her down. He got up and grabbed her bag off the floor by the bed. He had Rocker go and get it for her last night after she had fallen asleep. He gave it to her and happily followed her into the shower.

They spent much longer in the shower than was needed. When they returned to the bedroom there was a tray on the bed with breakfast waiting for them. Cana smiled and dug right in, she was starving. “What do I have to do to get treatment like this?”

“Catch Rocker sleeping with the master’s daughter.” Bacchus told her, laughing at the shock on her face. He had caught his friend years ago and still held it over his head on occasion. Currently he was using it to try and make things go well with Cana. He only had a few days to make a big impression on her. After they got dressed and ate they headed up to the arena.

They managed to get there early even with their morning activities. Bacchus didn’t walk with his arm around Cana today, instead he walked holding her hand. He was being mindful today of keeping his distance, not because he wanted to but because he didn’t want Laxus hurting her again. When they reached the stadium Cana’s team was waiting for her.

“Hey, boozer, Mystogan went and screwed up yesterday. We need you to fill in again.” Gajeel told her.

“Porlyusica told us you’re not allowed to compete but we need a fifth to just be present. Okay?” Mira said, smiling at Cana and Bacchus.

Bacchus could feel the tension in Cana as she looked at Laxus. He was leaning against a wall and seemed to be ignoring her. On the outside he was the picture of calm and collected. Internally his dragon was agitated at Bacchus’ being there but he reminded it about the deal they reached and it, reluctantly, stood down. “I knew having him on the team was a bad idea. He has been nothing but trouble. I don’t know what the old geezer was thinking.”

“You’re one to talk about being trouble.” Bacchus barely whispered the words but Laxus easily heard him and took a step closer to him.

“You want to say that again?” Laxus challenged him. Bacchus didn’t look like he was going to back down either.

“Save it for the field.” Cana said as she got in between them. She pressed one hand on Bacchus’ chest and held her other just above Laxus’, over the skin that was exposed where he left the top of his shirt unbuttoned. Cana met his eyes and when she spoke it was quiet enough that Bacchus could hardly make out the words. “It’s been over four months. What do you think would happen if I touched you right now? Might be a little embarrassing for you in front of all these people.”

Cana heard Gajeel gasp lightly at her words. He had come closer to try and prevent a fight from starting. The other Dragon-Slayer didn’t even want to think how he would be after four months without his mate. He had a new appreciation for how difficult this all was for Laxus.

Laxus wasn’t sure if he believed her treat, knowing she would feel the same pull he did, but he wasn’t willing to risk it. He knew Cana wasn’t against public sex and he shouldn’t be surprised at her using that as a defense. His dragon was basically purring, begging him to lean into her touch. He managed to take a step back and he damn well felt like he earned some type of reward for that. “Drunks not worth my time.”

Cana turned her attention to Bacchus once she was sure Laxus was under control. Bacchus pulled her against him and gave her a light, sweet kiss. “I thought you weren’t the jealous type?” Cana asked against his lips. She felt more than saw Gajeel position himself between her and Laxus. The bigger man had his back to them though.

“I just don’t like abusive jerks.” Bacchus told her.

She took a step back and out of his arms. She was looking at the ground and shaking her head. “It’s not like that …” She could understand the way he saw things and, maybe in a way he was right, but Cana just didn’t see it like that. She knew he could be abusive and she knew she wasn’t able to make excuses for all his behavior but she couldn’t help but feel there was an excuse for it. She might not know what it was but she still refused to believe Laxus was the type to hurt someone for no reason.

Bacchus grabbed her hand and squeezed it. This wasn’t the time to try and argue the point with her. He wanted her to see what Laxus did to her, was still doing, but he knew now was not the time. Instead he wished her luck and left with his team to get ready.

Cana walked with her team, staying near the back of the group. When they reached their viewing balcony Laxus had stayed back in the hall, waiting for her. “Can we talk for a second?” He asked.

“What do we have to talk about?” Cana was tense, defensive. She hated that she was scared of being alone with him but she wasn’t sure how he was going to react from minute to minute.

“I want to apologize for yesterday.” He was trying to keep his body language relaxed to assure her he wasn’t a threat. “A lot happened and I don’t want to explain it all right here, but the bottom line is I hurt you. I didn’t mean to but it happened and I’m sorry. It doesn’t matter what … issues I might be having, I should have better control. I just … I’m sorry.”

Cana hadn’t been expecting Laxus to apologize. He had never apologized to her in the past. Sure, he had danced around it. He had tried to explain himself, had made excuses. He wasn’t trying to explain things away this time. He had actually said the words ‘I’m sorry’. He said it twice. Cana once again felt her heart aching, it reached out to him. He looked lost right now and she wanted to comfort him. She gently placed her hand on his arm.

“Thank you. For the record, you are a better man than your father and I still believe you will be a great guild master one day.” She didn’t know where the words came from but she knew they were what he needed to hear right then. She could see his face brighten up as he let them sink in. Yesterday had been stressful for him and he had done the right thing by getting away from people. She knew that and she was able to realize that she was the one that went after him, just like she had in Magnolia. And just like in Magnolia she had been hurt, albeit less seriously this time. “Now come on we have a competition to win.”

Laxus smiled at her and nodded. They both headed out to see what new challenge they were going to face that day. Cana didn’t miss the knowing smirk that Gajeel was giving them. He had probably heard their little exchange. Mira was watching both of them curiously again. It was clear that the suspicion Mira had at the start of the week was back in her head. She hadn’t missed the exchange that morning or Laxus’ clear jealous behavior. If they didn’t have a history then Mira was willing to bet that the two were wanting one. Cana did seem to be enjoying her time with Bacchus but Mira wasn’t against a little meddling if it meant she could make both Cana and Laxus happy. They both deserved it. The only one that wasn’t giving them weird looks was Juvia but that was because she was to busy watching Gray.

The first game of the day was called Naval Battle. The idea was similar to an underwater sumo match. One person from each team would enter the giant floating water bubble and the last person knocked out would be the winner. It was, with no complaint from the crowd, not surprising that each team sent in a female member.

 **Fairy Tail Team B** : Juvia was the obvious choice for anything to do with water. **  
Mermaid Heel** : Risley was hoping her gravity magic would give her an edge. **  
Lamia Scale** : Sherria loved the water and knew she was a fast swimmer. **  
Fairy Tail Team A** : Lucy was planning to use this to redeem herself for the first day of the games. **  
Sabertooth** : Minerva Orland was competing as the replacement for Yukino. **  
Blue Pegasus** : Jenny was again competing, replacing Eve. ****  
Quarto Puppy: Rocker, the only boy in the event.

The game started out interesting enough. Juvia went head to head with Lucy and Aquarius. While those two were focused on each other the other girls battled and Rocker was quickly removed from the competition. Cana noticed that Bacchus didn’t seem to be watching his team mate, in fact he looked like he was sleeping. It was probably exactly what he was doing after staying up the whole night watching over her. Cana felt a little guilty but is quickly distracted by Juvia taking out most of the rest of the girls in a single attack. Lucy is barely able to withstand Juvia’s attack with the help of Virgo and Aries. Risley, Sherria, and Jenny are all knocked out by it. Cana and the rest of the team were celebrating Juvia’s new attack when she was suddenly pushed out of the ring by Minerva. Juvia had been too distracted by Gray, again, and didn’t notice the attack. That left Lucy alone with Minerva.

The next part of the match was hard to watch. Lucy was no match for the much stronger mage. Minerva was just playing with Lucy too. She was careful not to let Lucy leave the ring even after she was unconscious. Minerva was playing just within the rules and was torturing Lucy. Cana had her hands over her mouth, disgusted with what she was watching. She didn’t fight it when Laxus put his arm around her and pulled her to his chest. She took comfort in the rumble she felt in his chest as he growled lowly.

Laxus knew he was supposed to keep his distance from Cana but he couldn’t right then. Watching Minerva beat the shit out of Lucy was pissing him off and holding Cana, keeping her safe, was the only thing that kept him from jumping down there and stopping the game. Lucy still wasn’t his favorite person but she was a Fairy Tail wizard. That meant she was family. No one treated his family like this. Sabertooth was going to pay for this. He could hear the low, threatening growl that was coming from Gajeel and knew that Natsu was probably feeling the same as they both were. Sabertooth might have the twin dragons, but they just pissed off the three dragons of Fairy Tail.

The match was finally called and Minerva had to let Lucy go. They watched as Lucy’s team ran to her side. It took the healing ability of both Sherria and Wendy just to kept Lucy alive. Team Sabertooth was facing off against Fairy Tail Team A. Laxus wanted to go down there and start the fight that was threatening to erupt but he controlled himself. If he went down there someone was going to die and he didn’t want to be that kind of person anymore.

They watched as Lucy was rushed off for medical attention and her team reluctantly went with her. Sabertooth was celebrating their victory. Like what they did deserved to be celebrated. Laxus didn’t even realize he was still growling until Cana spoke. “Laxus? Are you good?”

He took a deep breath and released his hold on her. “No. They are going to pay for that.”

“Let’s go check on Lucy.” Gajeel said. “We will have our chance at them soon.”

They all went down together to check on Lucy, running into Juvia on the way and bringing her along. Lucy was laying in bed with Porlyusica taking care of her. She was badly hurt but she was still alive. Cana was sure that was going to be a disappointment to Minerva.

“Any word on Lucy’s condition?” Juvia asked when they entered the room.

“You guys came?” Gray seemed surprised to see them there. Cana could understand being surprised about Laxus but the rest of them were Lucy’s friends.

“We may be on different teams, but we’re all in the same guild.” Cana reminded him.

“Laxus?” Natsu looked up like he just realized that they were there.

“Don’t start with me kid.” Laxus was still tense. His dragon was still enraged over what happened and seeing Lucy was not helping to calm it down. He could feel the same tension from Gajeel and even more so from Natsu. “How is she?”

“She’s not out of the woods yet, but she’ll pull though.” Porlyusica answered his question.

“I’m glad to hear she hasn’t sustained any lasting injuries.” That was as close to concerned as Erza could manage. She was worried to death about Lucy, but like Laxus she had a hard time expressing her emotions. With such a large group around her she felt it was even more important to control her emotions.

“They are going to pay.” Natsu said in a deathly cold tone.

“You can sure as hell bet on that one.” Laxus agreed.

Lucy woke up shortly after that. She actually apologized for getting the shit beat out of her. She had wanted to win and was apologizing for not getting first place. Laxus had to give her credit for that. She was a lot tougher then when she first joined Fairy Tail. He could admire her determination. Maybe she wasn’t so bad after all. Once her team assured her that they were proud of her and that her keys were safe she passed back out.

“I think she is going to be okay.” Mira said with a smile. If Lucy was worried about her team and her keys then she was alright.

“But we still can’t let those guys get away with this kind of crap.” Cana was still pissed off that her friend was hurt. She couldn’t believe the judges had let things get as far as they did.

“Lousy bunch of scumbags.” Gajeel grumbled. He looked like he was going to say something else but Master Makarov walked into the room then.

“Unfortunate circumstances, but I’m glad both teams are here.” Makarov looked around to each of his guildmembers that were gathered around him. “I have something to tell you. I was just contacted by the games organizers, though I’m not sure if it’ll be a help or a hindrance to us, we’ve been asked to consolidate our two teams into one”

“So, we got to be like everybody else now, huh?” Laxus wasn’t surprised by the news. He figured something like this was going to happen eventually.

“Why are they doing that?” Mira asked.

“Since Raven Tail has been disqualified, there are now seven teams remaining. Having an odd number makes it difficult to match up competitors for the battles. Therefore, we’ve been ordered to do away with the A and B teams and form a single five-person team for the rest of the tournament.” Makarov explained.

So Laxus exposes his old man for the cheat he is and Fairy Tail gets punished by losing a team. It didn’t seem fair to him but he could understand the need for it. The next phase was going to be two on two battles and it was going to be hard to judge it if there was an odd number of teams. He didn’t like it but he could understand and accept it.

“But how will this affect out scores?” Carla was the one to think about what really mattered.

“We’re only allowed to keep the lower one.” Makarov told them. “That would be the thirty-five points from Team A.”

“That’s totally unfair!” Happy complained.

“Fair or not, the decision’s been made so we better accept it.” Erza’s commanding voice stopped anymore protest.

“Look on the bright side,” Cana said, trying to lighten the mood in the room a little. “This just means we’re gonna be able to put together an even more kick ass team.” Everyone seemed to agree with Cana on that fact. Now they just had to decide on who was going to be in their new team.

“No matter what happens, I’m going to get revenge for Lucy!” Natsu swore. “If they think they can treat her like that, I’ll show them myself they’re dead wrong.”

It was agreed that Natsu should have a place on the new team, if only to keep him from going after Sabertooth’s guild again. Erza was equally determined to get revenge for Lucy. Wendy and Cana were quick to bow out, neither feeling that had the magic power to go against someone like Minerva. Mira simply didn’t like fighting and asked not to be included. Gray wanted a chance to get back at Rufus and he was placed on the team. Gajeel wanted a shot at the other Dragon-Slayers and was happy to be on the team. That only left one spot for either Juvia or Laxus.

“I’m going against that guy with the black lightning, don’t try and stop me.” He said before Juvia could demand to be on the team just because of Gray. He liked Juvia, for the most part, but she was to easily distracted by her feelings for Gray, not to mention his dragon was itching for a good fight.

That was the end of the discussion. The new team was finalized and it was time to start the next round of competition. The two man battles. This time when the new team Fairy Tail was introduced the crowed went wild for them. Even if Fairy Tail didn’t win they were back to being the beloved guild they once were. If Sabertooth had backed off, if they hadn’t hurt the guild the way they had, Laxus might have been willing to accept the love of the people. That wasn’t going to be enough now. Now he was going to make sure that Sabertooth went down.

The first of the battles was Blue Pegasus against Quatro Puppy. Ichiya and the man in the rabbit costume are up for Blue Pegasus with Bacchus and Rocker fighting for Quatro Puppy. Bacchus was looking better after his nap and had already fueled up for this fight, swaying on his feet. As the fight begins it is revealed the man in the rabbit costume isn’t even a man but an Exceed. Everyone is shocked to see Nichiya, a cat version of Ichiya. After recovering from the initial shock Bacchus and Rocker waisted no time in attacking. They quickly knocked out the weak Exceed. After that they seemed to have the upper hand in the two on one battle, knocking Ichiya around. Ichiya uses one of his Power Perfumes to gain size, muscle, and strength. With his new power he is able to knock out Bacchus and Rocker in one hit.

“Oh man, that’s just sad.” Cana groaned from where she was sitting in the Fairy Tail section of the stands.

“Did your boyfriend just lose to Ichiya?” Wakaba teased her.

“That is unfortunate.” Mira said in her normal sweet voice which just irritated Cana more.

“Oh, knock it off. I ain’t with him for his fighting ability.” She smiled at them. “Now his bedroom abilities ….” She whistled and fanned herself.

Wakaba shook his head and laughed at her. “I wouldn’t let your father hear you talking like that.”

Cana ignored him. She didn’t care what her father thought about the men she slept with, he didn’t have a leg to stand on. The next fight was starting and she turned her attention to that. Yuka and Lyon from Lamia Scale against Millianna and Kagura from Mermaid Heel. This battle turned out to be even more strange then the last. Kagura actually stepped back and let Millianna take on the two boys herself. She was a good fighter and neither of her opponents seemed to be able to land a hit on her. Unfortunately, her cat like behavior became her biggest weakness. She was easily distracted by mice and warm places. Lyon ended up chasing her into a wall with a tiger made of ice. Kagura took over the battle at that point and went head to head with Lyon. She was about to land a blow that would have claimed victory for Mermaid Heel when the timer sounded. The second match was officially called as a draw.

The final match was the one that people were most looking forward too. Natsu Dragneel and Gajeel Redfox of Fairy Tail against Sting Eucliffe and Rouge Cheney of Sabertooth. Four extremely powerful men were about to face off. Each of them had been raised by a dragon with magic strong enough to kill them. Gajeel and Natsu didn’t pull any hits when the battle starts. Both had their inner dragons encouraging them to take revenge for Lucy. Everyone is surprised at how easy it seems that Fairy Tail was beating the famous Twin Dragons. Even Natsu wasn’t impressed. These two claimed to have killed their dragons but they were barely putting up a fight. It was shortly after he confronted them that the mood of the battle shifted. Sting and Rouge were able to take control. The two worked flawlessly together where as Gajeel and Natsu couldn’t work as a team to take down a mouse.

The first half of the battle showed the strength of Fairy Tail. The second half showed the weakness. Once they are able to separate the Twin Dragons they are able to get the upper hand once again. The match continues to be back and forth until most of the arena is destroyed. At some point in the fight Gajeel was sent off in a mine cart by Natsu who then took on both Dragon-Slayers on his own. No one was expecting Natsu to win but somehow he managed to take down the Twin Dragon’s on his own.

It was an explosive end to a crazy day. Team Fairy Tail had suffered horribly at the beginning of the day but they felt vindicated after defeating the most famous members of Sabertooth. That night there would be a huge celebration at the Honeybone. The whole guild would be there to laugh and celebrate and enjoy themselves. Even Lucy managed to be there and join in the fun. Things had officially turned around for Fairy Tail and that night there was nothing that could bring them down.


	15. Final match

Cana was at the bar celebrating with the rest of Fairy Tail. They were in the number one spot, one point ahead of Sabertooth. Cana was by herself tonight, Bacchus was back at his hotel resting and licking his wounds with his team. Quatro Puppy was in last place, thirty points behind Fairy Tail. Cana felt bad for the guys but tonight she was planning on celebrating with her guild.

Everyone was in good spirits and with Lucy feeling better it was like the events of the morning were all but forgotten. Gajeel wondered in at some point in the night and left with Natsu, Wendy, Lucy, Gray, and the Exceeds. Cana didn’t know where they were going but she didn’t worry about it. She was sitting at a table with Levy. Jet and Droy were nearby and already passed out. She was aware of Laxus sitting a few tables over, within his hearing range, with Bickslow, Freed and Evergreen.

“Can I ask you something personal?” Levy asked quietly. Cana waved for her to continue as she took a drink from a barrel of wine. “If you’re mated to Laxus, then what are you doing with Bacchus?”

Cana sighed, she felt like this was something she would always have to deal with. “Look, I don’t really understand that whole thing. Gajeel insists that it’s important but it doesn’t affect me. We broke things off after Tenrou Island and now I’m looking at someone new.”

“You can’t just stop being his mate. It’s an ancient form of body-link magic. The two of you are bound together until one of you dies.” Levy explained. Gajeel had told her all about how mating worked before he pursued a relationship with her. “The longer you deny it the stronger the pull will become.”

Cana frowned at the little script mage. “What do you mean ‘the pull’? I don’t feel nothing.”

“You wouldn’t. You are the object the magic is focused on. The purpose of the magic is to encourage a Dragon-Slayer to reproduce and to keep them from abandoning their children. The longer you are apart the stronger that urge will become. It could eventually overpower the Dragon-Slayer. I don’t know what would happen seeing this is all from what Metallicana told Gajeel, but I don’t think it would be good.”

Some of that made sense to Cana. It would explain the urges they had whenever they touched. She had noticed over the week that Levy and Gajeel could touch each other easily without any issues. The two were almost always together though and if the urge got stronger the longer they were apart it would explain why it always felt so strong to Cana and Laxus. It was rare for them to spend much time together and he was often off on long missions. It also raised another question for her.

“You say the point of this bond is to have children, right?” Cana asked her

Levy nodded. “It draws the Dragon-Slayer and his chosen mate together and encourages …” She blushed lightly.

“For you to fuck like bunnies until you make a baby?” Cana laughed at Levy’s embarrassed look. “If that’s the case. What would happen if a mate had a child with someone else?”

Cana watched as Levy thought it over. She didn’t have a ready answer for that. It wasn’t something she had never discussed with Gajeel. When she had children, hopefully a few years down the line, she only wanted them with him. She never thought to ask about if she was with someone else because she didn’t want anyone else. “Well … Dragon-Slayers are really protective of what they think is theirs …”

Cana snorted, “That’s an understatement.”

“I don’t think it would be good. Especially with Laxus, he already is known to be a little hot headed at times.” Levy looked a little worried. “If that is something you’re considering then I would suggest making sure Laxus is completely out of your life first.”

“I’m not having any children any time soon.” Cana put on a smile that she wasn’t feeling. “What about you? Any little Iron Dragons in the work?” Cana laughed at Levy’s horrified look.

Cana hadn’t asked Levy that question because she was thinking about having children in the future, she was thinking about the past. She was wondering if her pregnancy had unknowingly influenced the events of Fantasia. Laxus had been angry with her and she had never understood why. Was it possible that he could have known about her pregnancy through the magic link they had somehow? The more she thought about it the more it made sense to her. If he had somehow known that she was having another mans baby it was possible this magic would try and destroy that baby. There was still so much they didn’t know about this link between them. A part of Cana felt bad for Laxus, she couldn’t imagine how she would feel if she was being manipulated by something she had no control over.

Cana and Levy started to talk about the final day of the games and who they thought their team should focus on. Laxus stopped listening at that point. He had never put any thought into why his magic would create a mate. He had just accepted it as one of the weird things his magic did that he didn’t understand and moved on. There was a lot about his own magic that he was still completely ignorant of. When something came up he normally just accepted it and moved on, it made life easier that way. His inner dragon was an example of this. He had never noticed it when he was younger but now that he knew it was there he just accepted it was a part of him and didn’t question why it was there. It seemed to be there just to cause him headaches as he fought with it endlessly.

Cana was one of the first people to retire to bed. She was staying in her room with her old team for the first time in days. She was just too tired to walk all the way to Bacchus’ hotel and she really wanted to just sleep. It was hours after Cana went to bed before Gajeel and his group showed up. Most of the guild had gone to bed at that point.

Gajeel was dragging in a fighting Natsu. The kid was trying to get free of Gajeel and run off somewhere. He was yelling something about getting Lucy back. It was then that Laxus noticed that Lucy was not with the group. Gajeel had Laxus help him tie Natsu to a support beam before he explained what was going on. The group had found a dragon graveyard and while there they had been approached by Colonel Arcadios and Yukino who told them about a project called Eclipse. Apparently it was a huge doorway that used stored magic energy to allow you to travel in time. Arcadios was plaining to use this to go back 400 years and kill Zaref. It do this they would need Lucy’s help. Arcadios, Yukino, and Lucy had then been arrested for treason. They had been told if they won the Grand Magic Games they may get an audience with the King and be able to ask for Lucy to be returned to them.

“Lucy has been taken into custody?” Erza asked, voicing the confusion they all had. Laxus, Juvia, Mira, and Makarov had all been there to hear the story.

“To think that she would be involved in some sort of top-secret plot is utterly ridiculous.” Makarov muttered to himself.

Laxus had to disagree with the old geezer. This sounded like just the sort of thing this group was always getting involved in. “Let me get this straight. We take the top spot, we can ask for her back but that’s only if his highness allows it?” That didn’t seem very likely to Laxus.

“Personally I have a hard time believeing anything that old guy told us.” Gray put words to Laxus’ thoughts.

“I feel the same.” Juvia agreed with him.

“Are we just supposed to put up with this crap from those jerks!” Natsu yelled from where we was trying to get free. Wendy and the Exceeds were watching over him. He had all his magic power stolen by the Eclipse Gate but that didn’t seem to be affecting him much now. “Untie me and I’ll go up there and get her right now!”

“Just calm down and do what Master tells us.” Wendy tired talking sense into him.

“It would be us against the whole army, ya know?” Happy was even being more rational then Natsu.

Everyone looked to Makarov for what they should do. “We can’t afford to take reckless action against the kingdom.” He said, thinking things over. “They surely wouldn’t want word to spread that they mistreat innocent civillians. But I suppose we should consider her a hostage until this eclipse project of theirs is called off.”

Makarov gave the kingdom more credit than Laxus did. The chances of them releasing Lucy were slim to none. If they wanted to keep this whole thing secret it would make more sense to just have Lucy disappear. That’s what Laxus would have done. For now though it seemed they had no choice but to follow the rules. “Man, They got us by the you-know-what, don’t they?”

“She’s a hostage?” Erza was having a hard time coming to terms with what was happening to her friend.

“There’s one thing I don’t really understand.” Gajeel said, getting everyones attention. “If all of us know about this big secret they’re trying to hide, why’d they let us walk away free?”

“You expect them to make any kind of sense?” Natsu shouted.

Gajeel was right, if they wanted this a secret then why wouldn’t they take all of them hostage? Laxus listened to the theories that went around the room. Lily thought they would want them to testify against Arcadios. Erza thought it was just because they wouldn’t be able to keep the secret much longer anyways. Neither of those made sense to Laxus. They wouldn’t want the kingdom to know what they were ploting and if it was true that it was all going to come out soon then it would also make sense that they would want to control how that information got out. Letting Natsu go free was not a way to control the flow of information. Laxus didn’t care too much on the reason why they were let go, he was thinking of a way to get Lucy back. It wasn’t until Mira spoke that a plan started to form.

“You’re all on the first place team in the games, high profile. It would be pretty suspicious if you all just didn’t show up for the final match.” Mira said.

“I can imagine the kingdom doesn’t want to get on the bad side of every wizard guild in the country.” Juvia agreed.

Natsu broke free of his restraints at that point. “We all need to quit flappin’ our gums and do something!” Laxus knocked Natsu out with his fist before he could do anything rash.

“Simmer down!” Makarov yelled, looking at Laxus. Like the old Geezer would have done any differently the him, hypocrite. “A member of our family has been taken against her will. Believe me, we all want justice right now. That being said we can’t just charge headlong into conflict like we usually do. It’s too risky.”

“I have a plan.” Laxus said, cutting off the rest of Makarov’s speech.

“You do? Let’s hear it.” Erza demanded.

“Clearly we will have to compete in the final match of the games. It is unlikely that we will get Lucy back that way but if we have to compete then we might as well win.” Laxus started to explain, getting agreements all around. “While the city is focused on the match we can send a small group to free Lucy.”

“And who would be rescuing Lucy?” Gray asked.

“Mira and Wendy. They can take the cats in case they need a quick escape. I figure when Natsu comes around he is going to want on this team as well. We won’t be able to stop him, so he might as well go too.” Laxus told them. His plan wasn’t fully thought out but it was starting to take shape as he laid it out.

“I want to be on the rescue team too.” Gray demanded.

“No can do.” Laxus told him. “They think Natsu lost all his magic power, a normal mage would be out for days, they won’t question him being replaced. We can’t swap out two members without being suspicious.”

“You’ll have to trust Flame-Brain to save your girlfriend.” Gajeel told him.

“She’s not my girlfriend!” Gray argued.

“My darling Gray! It can’t be true.” Juvia whined.

“Hey! We need to focus!” Laxus waited for everyone to calm down before he continued. “We need to replace Natsu, so you’re up Juvia. I’m going to need you to focus out there. You can’t let Gray distract you.” He waited for Juvia to nod in agreement before continuing. “This isn’t just about getting Lucy back, this is about the reputation of Fairy Tail. We left them high and dry seven years ago. They have been through hell because of that but they never gave up on us. Fairy Tail is more than a guild, we are family. We need to show everyone that if you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us. That’s the Fairy Tail way.”

A cheer went through the room. Makarov was impressed with how quick Laxus was able to come up with a plan. It was similar to the plan that Makarov had been coming up with himself. It did his old heart good to hear Laxus referring to the guild as his family. Perhaps Master Mavis was had been right about Laxus. The boy was growing more each day.

Cana spent the day of rest they had with Bacchus. She enjoyed the time they spent together especially if they managed to avoid the topic of Laxus. She was aware of his dislike of the Dragon-Slayer and she could understand where he was coming from but she didn’t want to discuss it. Most of their topic of discussion was around their most exciting jobs and what had been happening around the country for the last seven years she had been gone. There had been a boom of wizards guild and the number of dark guilds had been cut significantly. Cana was relaxed talking to him and it helped that she knew she could say nearly anything to him and it wouldn’t become guild gossip the next day.

Laxus was spending his free day working out his plan for Lucy’s rescue and the final battle. He was surprised that his grandfather was letting him take the lead on this. While Laxus was skilled at infiltrating and eliminating dark guilds, this was completely different. They had to get past the kings army, and he had a feeling they would be a lot better trained than your typical dark guild. He also had the wild card that was Natsu to deal with. Telling Natsu that he was going to be leading the rescue mission had helped keep him under control while Laxus came up with a plan but it made things more difficult. Laxus would normally have everything planned out, every outcome considered. His team was well organized and Freed always made sure they followed the plan. Natsu never planned anything out. Laxus was half tempted to send Freed, Bickslow, and Evergreen in place of the team he had but he wouldn’t give in to that. He had depended on the Thunder Legion for too long. He could work with and lead other and he was going to prove that. He was grateful though when Mavis came up with the strategy for the final match. He would have never been able to come up with the detailed plan she did.

The day of the final match came sooner than anyone would have liked. The rescue team was heading to the castle. They were to find a way into the dungeons, silently, then free Lucy, silently, get back out of the castle, silently, then send up a signal flare to let everyone know they were safe. Laxus wasn’t sure how many times he had emphasized the point of being silent to Natsu, but he was sure it wasn’t enough. There wasn’t anything he could do about it now. If Natsu got caught he would just deny any knowledge about what happened. The hot-head wasn’t going to take the whole guild down with him.

Laxus now had a few new problems to deal with. The first being a love obsessed water mage. He pulled her aside on the way to their starting point. “Juvia, we are counting on you to remained focused. You have to trust Gray to take care of his target on his own. If you’re not in place at the right time we could lose Erza and without her we lose. Got it?”

Juvia looked nervous but nodded, looking at her feet. “Juvia will have faith in her love.”

He put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up at him. “You can do this. Let’s show them what Fairy Tail is made of.” He smiled at her and she nodded in agreement, looking a lot more confident.

The final match was a battle royale with each member of a team being worth one point and the captain worth five points. The points going into the final match are as follows:

6th place – Quatro Puppy – 15 points  
5th place – Blue Pegasus – 30 points  
4th place – Lamia Scale – 40 points  
3rd place – Mermaid Heel – 40 points  
2nd place – Sabertooth – 44 points  
1st place – Fairy Tail – 45 points

Team Fairy Tail took up their starting place and waited for the signal to start. They didn’t move from their spots when the match began. They were told the best plan was to wait, let their targets get into position. Laxus’ dragon was agitated, it was ready for a fight. He could feel the tension in Gajeel next to him and figured he was feeling the same thing. They watched as Lamia Scale took out Novali, Semmes and Yeager of Quatro Puppy, earning them three more points giving them a total of 43 points. The Trimens from Blue Pegasus eliminated Arana and Beth from Mermaid Heel earning them two points, bringing their score to 32 points.

Things started to heat up after that. Bacchus was prepared to face off against Toby and Yuka from Lamia Scale but before their fight could start Sting showed up from no where and knocked Bacchus out. Bacchus didn’t even see the guy coming. While Toby and Yuka were focused on Sting, Kagura came up behind them and cut them down. Sting was gone before Kagura could come after him. The final tally of points from that round, five points to Sabertooth for taking down Quatro Puppy’s captain, totaling 49 points and moving to first place. Mermaid Heel received another two points for a total of 42 points.

It was shortly after that when Millianna and Rocker faced off. This ended with Mermaid Heel receiving another point and Quatro Puppy being eliminated with only 15 points. With Quatro Puppy out of the match it was time for Fairy Tail to move. They all split up and followed the path that Mavis had laid out for each of them. Rufus was hiding out on the rooftops like he had during Hidden on the first day. Just like the first day he again tried to hit each member of Fairy Tail with a lightning attack all at once. Mavis had already warned them about this and they knew how to dodge the attack, waiting until the shadow was overhead before moving. Laxus didn’t have to worry about this and took the full attack. He was happy for the free recharge. It made his dragon more energized and pumped him up for the fight he was heading too.

Erza was the first to come across an opponent, easily taking out Jenny from Blue Pegasus. Gajeel ran into the Trimens and took out Eve and Ren. Gray dealt with Hibiki when he tried to run away. That gave Fairy Tail four points and tied them with Sabertooth at 49 points. Gray went from there to his match against Rufus. This was one of the riskiest match ups for the day but Gray and insisted on fighting against Rufus.

While Gray was dealing with Rufus, poorly, the others couldn’t do anything but watch on the lacrima screens. Laxus sent up a silent prayer that Juvia would stick to the plan. In the meantime, Jura took out Ichyia and eliminated Blue Pegasus. Shirria finished off Leslie. Blue Pegasus finished with 32 points total while Lamia Scale gained six giving them a first place tying score of 49.

While Gray’s match with Rufus was getting heated, Juvia faced off with Shirria. Her job was to keep the God-Slayer busy to keep her from interfering with Erza’s fight against Minerva. Laxus just had time to see that their plan hit a snag and Kagura was getting involved in Erza’s fight before he ran into his own opponent.

“How’s it going?” Laxus asked as he approached Olga. His dragon went from being ready for a fight to cowering in the corner. Laxus knew Olga was dangerous but he was really disappointed with how his inner beast was reacting. It was really pathetic.

“So, you and I finally get to square off?” Olga smiled at him and let his magic flare around him, showing off his power.

“So, what’s with the black lightning?” Laxus asked, taking on a bored appearance.

“Surely you realize by now, I’m no ordinary wizard. I’m a Lightning God-Slayer.” Olga said this like it should impress Laxus or something. It just sounded kind of pompous to him.

“That’s going to make it embarrassing when you get your butt kicked by a Fairy.” Laxus was carefully sizing him up. “Lightning Gold-Slayer Olga, is that right? Catchy name.”

“Am I supposed it be flattered or something? Come on.” Olga’s magic flared around him again. Laxus took a mental note of the man’s impatience.

“I thought all you Saber-punks like lip service. I mean, with a name like that, your lightning’s got to be something to behold.” Laxus was dying to know what his lightning would feel like and if he would be immune to it. “Sorry, but second-best is all it’s ever going to be.”

“Are you saying yours is beast? That’s some bold talk coming from a Fairy.”

“There is always someone better than you. Having your face shoved in the gravel is a good way to learn that.” It was how Laxus had learned his lesson and it was how he intended to teach all of Sabertooth theirs.

“Bring it on! Let’s see whose lightning comes out on top. Grit your teeth ‘cause here comes the first strike.” Olga shouted before sending a blast of lighting over Laxus’ right shoulder and destroying the building behind him.

Laxus had known the attack was a bluff from how he broadcasted it and didn’t bother to move. He learned two things from this attack, the strength of Olga’s magic, which was on par with his own. The second was that, if that attack had hit, it would have hurt Laxus, a lot. He could feel the residual shock just from being close to it. He could now understand why his dragon was afraid. He really didn’t want to learn what it felt like to be electrocuted.

“What’s the matter? Don’t tell me the great Laxus is so terrified he can’t move.” Olga was laughing at him.

“Come on, we both know you weren’t really going to hit me.” Laxus had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. “You’ve got a lot to learn about the art of intimidation, pal.” Laxus sent his own bolt of lightning over Olga’s shoulder. He put all the excess power he had from Rufus attack into it and leveled a number of buildings behind the man.

“That was pretty impressive.” Olga said, not sounding impressed at all.

“Now who’s being flattering?” Laxus was getting tired of all the talking, he wanted to fight. “Are we doing this sometime today? I can’t be stuck playing grab ass out here forever.”

Laxus was ready for Olga’s attack and moved with the same lighting speed he did. The two faced off with a lightning punch, testing each other’s power. They ended up coming to a draw. It was rare for Laxus to find someone to pose a challenge to him, especially seeing they shared an element. He was getting fired up for his fight but was interrupted by an unexpected arrival.

“My, my …” Jura walked up to the two of them. “I was hoping to come across some capable warriors.”

“The monster is here, this should be good.” Laxus said to himself. Jura was the biggest wild card of the day. They had no idea how to defeat him. Laxus couldn’t suppress his grin as his dragon came out of hiding. This was a man it was excited to face off with.

“I hope you don’t mind me interrupting your fight. It’s simply too enticing to pass up.” Jura was smiling at them.

“Alright, come on and join the party. I’d love to see you fight for real.” Olga said. Laxus thought the man must be slightly insane. Jura was the fifth ranked wizard saint. Sure Laxus would enjoy a fight with the man but he would never go against his full power. “Let’s see if you have the stones to try and stop this. I’m going to give you a taste of my full power old man. Let’s answer the question that’s on everyone’s mind. Who’s magic is stronger, a saint or a God-Slayer? Are you up for the challenge? You can walk away. Is that wizard saint title just for show?” Olga seemed to be gathering power for an attack.

“I’ll play.” Jura told him, getting into a fighting position.

 _Idiot walked right into his trap._ Laxus thought and took a few steps back. He didn’t want to get hit in the cross fire.

“Lightning God: Charged Particle Cannon!” Olga launched a powerful, focused blast of magic at Jura. The attack was strong but slow for lightning magic. Jura was able to easily doge it and hit Olga with his bare hands, knocking the man out. He earned one point for Lamia Scale.

“I remember you now. You fought on the very first day of the games. That fight ended with one blow as well.” Jura commented over Olga’s body. He turned to face Laxus. “Now that’s done …”

Laxus scoffed at the wizard saint and did roll his eyes this time. Olga was a brute with no sense of strategy. It was no surprise Jura took him down so easily. Laxus only wished the man had lasted a little longer so he could get a up close look at Jura’s style of magic.

“I had been hoping I would get the opportunity to spar with you. The grandson of Makarov.” Jura told him, taking a few steps toward Laxus.

“Jura really shouldn’t have said that.” Cana commented from where she was in the stands.

“Why not? It’s true, isn’t it.” Levy said from where she was standing beside Cana.

“Yeah, but haven’t you noticed how he hates being compared with the Master? It’s one sure fire way to make Laxus loose his head in a battle.” Cana explained to her. She was confused by how many in the guild seemed surprised by her comment. Even Makarov was looking at her. It seemed like the only people that knew what she was talking about were the Thunder Legion.

“I guess it would be a lot to live up too.” Levy agreed.

“It’s not just that. He wants to be seen as his own person. He has lived his whole life under the Masters shadow.” She looked over at Makarov. “And you have a big shadow for such a little man, Master.”

Everyone around them laughed, including Master Mavis. The guild was busy enjoying themselves that they missed the next exchange between Jura and Laxus. Makarov was paying close attention however. He never thought much about why Laxus was the way he was and it was a short falling he was able to admit to himself. Makarov could also admit that Laxus had grown significantly in a short period of time and his actions today were reflecting that.

“Alright, you can stop right there. I don’t need the baggage.” Laxus told Jura. He shouldn’t be surprised by Jura’s comment. Makarov was a fellow wizard saint, of course he was going to try and compare them. Not too long ago those words would have enraged him but after beating his old man, it just didn’t seem to matter anymore. “You can just forget about your fancy title and who I’m related to. You and I are just two men.”

Laxus attacked Jura, lauching himself at the man with lightning speed. He was surprised when Jura managed to knock him right on the head, slamming him into the ground. No one had ever caught him so easily.

“In this world, there is always someone above you.” Jura said, standing over Laxus.

“Yeah, you’re right about that. But what you seem to have forgotten is to pay close attention to who’s right at your feet.” Laxus lunched up from the ground and knocked Jura back with an uppercut.

Jura counter-attacked with a pillar of rock that shot up under Laxus’ feet. He was able to move away just in time and tried to hit Jura with his Lightning Dragon: Heavenward Halberd but Jura was able to block it with his Talus spell. Laxus tried to get in range for a more direct attack but Jura kept throwing up pillars to keep him back. Laxus bounced himself around on them, using each as a jumping point to gain speed until he was finally able to reach his target. The two went hit for hit against each other. The appeared to be evenly match, but Laxus was starting to feel the effects of the battle.

“I haven’t felt this alive in years! Color me impressed.” Jura said when Laxus had moved back to catch his breath. Jura didn’t even seem winded.

“The rumors are true, you are a monster. Go figure.” Laxus wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to win this match. “Alright, Natsu, what would you say at a time like this?” Laxus asked himself. He felt the answer coming from his dragon. It wasn’t ready to give up and roll over. This was the most fun it’s had since the start of the games. It fed its strength into Laxus. “Now I got a fire in my belly.”

“Splendid!” Jura didn’t seem to understand the dangerous force that was a Dragon-Slayer who was in tune with his dragon. “Let’s try a round no-holds barred and see who’s left standing.”

Laxus knew that meant he was going to have to hit Jura fast and hard with everything he had. If the other man was able to land one hit on Laxus at full power then Laxus was done for. He launched his most powerful attack, Dragon-Slayer Secret Art: Roaring Thunder, his dragon fed almost all its power into the one spell. The attack hit Jura square in the chest and was thankfully enough to knock the man out. Fairy Tail gained five points.

Laxus had used up most of his magic power in the fight and was pretty beat up too. He took a moment to look up at the lacrima screens to see how the rest of his team was doing. Gray had finished his battle with Rufus. He and Juvia had teamed up to take out Shirria and Lyon. Kagura was eliminated from the fighting along with Millianna and Erza was fighting Minerva. Gajeel was starting his fight with Rouge as well. Fairy Tail had gained another three points and Sabertooth had another six. Mermaid Heel and Lamia Scale were now eliminated. That left the scores at:

Quatro Puppy: Eliminated with 15 points  
Blue Pegasus: Eliminated with 32 points  
Mermaid Heel: Eliminated with 43 points   
Lamia Scale: Eliminated with 50 points  
Sabertooth: With three members and 55 points.  
Fairy Tail: With all five members and 57 points.

Laxus kept one eye on the screens as he made his way to the park that they were set to regroup at. Gajeel’s match ended quickly with Rouge. Gajeel had somehow been able to absorb Rouge’s shadow ability. Without the advantage of hiding in the shadows, Gajeel was able to defeat the other Dragon-Slayer. It was with get effort and determination that Erza was able to finally take down Minerva. Laxus felt particularly good about that outcome. In the end Minerva had been begging for mercy and Erza had refused to show any. It was just what she deserved after what she did to Lucy. That gave Fairy Tail a score of 63 points.

Laxus had been keeping his eye out for Natsu’s signal flare too and had yet to see it. He shouldn’t be surprised that Natsu had managed to mess things up. He just had to hope the kid wasn’t in to much trouble. The five beaten and bruised members of Fairy Tail made their way to the central park where they were to face off against Sting. The man was going to have to beat all of them if he wanted to win. They had all seen the strength that Sting held and they were all in bad shape. That didn’t stop them from facing him with confidence. They were members of Fairy Tail and they would never back down. Laxus was ready for the fight but it never came. Sting ended up surrendering to them. It was over. Fairy Tail had won the Grand Magic Games.


	16. The Dragon Horde

Fairy Tail didn’t get much time to celebrate their victory. The whole team was beat up pretty badly and had royal healers look over them and bandage them up. Most of the other contestants looked to be in the same shape. After everyone was healed up they were told they had to report to Crystal Plaza in the center of the city. When they arrived, they noticed every guild wizard in the city was gathered there along with the King and his guards. Each team made their way over to their guilds.

“What’s going on here?” Laxus asked Makarov when he made his way over to the rest of Fairy Tail.

“I don’t know. But it can’t be good.” The old man responded. He had seen the city being evacuated while everyone was gathering.

“Thank you all for coming.” The small King spoke up, getting everyone’s attention. “I hate to spoil the mood after the splendid display of wizardry we’ve seen today, but I’m afraid, Fiore’s heart may soon be in the claws of a dragon horde.”

“I thought Acnologia was the only one.” Makarov said to himself.

“There’s more of those things?” Laxus didn’t want to believe that. They had been helpless against Acnologia and now there was a horde of dragons. He moved himself closer to where the Thunder Legion was standing. If it was going to come to a fight, he was going to protect them.

“Last time we fought one of them we lost seven years of our lives.” Cana had her arms wrapped around herself. That was a nightmare she didn’t want to repeat. “We can’t take on an entire horde.”

“As we speak, a large-scale counter-offensive is underway at the castle. The Eclipse Cannon.” The king told everyone once they noise calmed down. “We will use it to wipe out the attacking dragons, all ten thousand of them, at once.”

“All of them at once? I wonder how they expect to pull that off.” Cana’s skepticism was mirrored in Laxus. If this had anything to do with that gate he had heard about he didn’t see how this would work. He didn’t know much about this secret project though and maybe it could be done.

“I can sense your concern. Regrettably, given the sheer number of the dragons forces, we expect that, at most, a few hundred will survive the attack.” The King told them. “So, I implore you, guild wizards! Please lend me your assistance in dealing with this crisis! You are the best hope we have for slaying any dragons the Eclipse cannot. I beg of you. Don’t let this kingdom fall into ruin.”

There was a murmur of agreement in the crowd that turned into a loud roar. Every wizard there knew this was probably a death sentence but they were going to protect the people of Crocus. It was just the type of people guild wizards were.

“Only a few hundred? We can take that down by breakfast. Why not give us a real challenge?” Laxus chuckled.

“I don’t think now is the time for jokes.” Freed scolded him.

“I don’t know. If I’m going to be eaten by a few hundred dragons I want to go down laughing.” Bickslow said, his babies laughing as the circled around the four of them. Laxus noted that this was Bix’s way of watching over all of them.

“I for one don’t plan to be eaten.” Evergreen said. She hit Laxus’ arm gently with her fan. “I’m going to stay close to the Dragon-Slayer.”

Laxus appreciated the vote of confidence. Something was wrong with this whole situation. His inner dragon should be dying for a fight like this but it was strangely quiet. He didn’t feel any impending danger that he would expect if a horde of dragons was going to attack.

“I’m not sure if that moon is a good omen.” Freed mused, looking at the blood red moon in the sky.

“The eclipse, fitting name.” Laxus muttered to himself as he looked up at it.

All the masters of the guilds gathered in the plaza gathered together to work out a plan. Fairy Tail, with its two current Dragon-Slayers, were to protect the center of the city. They found that Lucy and the rescue team were released and expected them to be joining them soon. Sabertooth with the Twin Dragons was going to cover the north of the city where everyone was evacuating. The remaining guilds were divided into 2-3 guild teams to cover the rest of the city. It was just past midnight when this plan was finalized.

Laxus didn’t know what shifted but there was a bright light that came from the castle, he assumed this was the Eclipse Cannon. After that flash of light his dragon woke up, putting him immediately on edge. Something big was coming, it was close, and it was making his dragon excited. He tapped into the power to help keep himself calm.

There was suddenly a blast of magic power that cut through the city, leaving destroyed buildings and a crater in its wake. There was a deafening roar that filled the city and everyone saw a huge dragon take flight from near the castle. There was a second dragon that seemed to appear out of nowhere followed by a third. The dragons walked through the city. A single roar from one dragon was enough to knock over buildings.

“Everyone spread out!” Makarov ordered. “If we stay clustered together, we risk being wiped out in one swoop.”

All the guilds broke up in order to implement the plan that they had come up with. Everyone in Fairy Tail watched as seven huge dragons come out of thin air by the castle. Each dragon was as large as Acnologia and probably just as powerful. The light from the castle faded away and no more dragons appeared. Wherever they were coming from must have been stopped. That was good. Seven was already seven to many in Laxus’ opinion.

One of the dragons, who looked like he was completely made of flames, landing in the plaza in front of the guild. He stood head and shoulder above the buildings around the plaza. The heat coming off the dragon was stronger than anything Natsu had put out in the past. It looked like their first contestant was up.

“Whoa, it’s huge!” Max said as he came face to face with a dragon for the first time.

“It can’t be real!” Jet took a step back.

“We are so dead!” Droy agreed.

“That’s a dragon?” Warren was staring in disbelief.

“Its entire body is covered in fire.” Max couldn’t figure out how they were going to fight something like this.

“Let’s take it down!” Makarov shouted, getting the rest of the guild to cheer. He just had some way of giving people confidence in a hopeless situation. “Just follow my lead and go for its feet!” The whole of Fairy Tail charged at the dragon before them.

“I am the dragon, Atlas Flame.” The dragon said, his voice a deep rumbling sound. “Prepare to taste my Hellfire, you lowly humans!” He launched an attack that caused a beam of fire like a laser that hit the ground in front of the charging guild. The shock wave was enough the throw everyone back.

“Stay strong, my children!” Makarov told them. They continued their attack on the dragon, trying to by time. It looked like nothing was able to hurt him. They were just trying to keep him distracted for a time being.

“Has the city’s evacuation been completed?” Erza asked after they had been fighting for a while.

“Yeah, just about done.” Macao told her.

“They’re safe, the Royal Army is protecting them.” Romeo was fighting alongside his father.

“Aw yeah!” Bickslow cheered, “That means we can start to let loose on these stupid lizards!”

“It’s about time for some ultra-manly pest control.” Elf agreed. He had somehow become a non-official member of the Thunder Legion.

Makarov was standing to the back with Master Mavis, watching the fight. “There are seven dragons. What do you suggest we do, First Master?”

“I’m not sure.” She said, shocking Makarov. “But it’s clear we must do whatever we can to neutralize them.”

Gray stepped to the front line with Juvia beside him. “Looks like a fire dragon to me. What do you say we take him on, Juvia?”

“Yes, my darling. A monster like this is no match for our love. We’re a force of nature.” Juvia was overjoyed by the idea that Gray would choose her to fight beside him.

“Okay, you and I need to have a serious talk! But now’s really not the time. But later, Juvia, we have to sort this out.” Gray told her. He could see from the love-sick look on her face she was thinking he was going to propose or something equally crazy. If they made it out of this he swore to himself he would be honest with her.

The two of them joined their magic power to attack Atlas Flame. Juvia used her Water Nebula which Gray froze with his Ice-Make Geyser. The attack hit the dragon with full force but he just seemed to brush the attack off.

“It didn’t do anything?” Gray was astonished.

“No way! We combined our burning passion for each other and hit it with our full magic power!” Juvia was still holding Grays hand, even after their attack was done.

“Foolish creatures. I am the mighty Atlas Flame. My fire consumes all that stands before me! Now prepare to have your lives burned away!” Atlas Flame sucked in a deep breath. Laxus recognized the move as the start of a dragon breath attack.

“I’ll nullify it with my enchantment magic!” Freed shouted as he ran forward and put up a rune wall between Atlas Flame and Fairy Tail. Atlas Flames attack hit his wall and shattered it. The runes weakened the attack enough that it wasn’t fatal but it did blow everyone back against the buildings around them.

“He blasted through Freed’s spell like it was nothing!” Bickslow said, always able to point out the obvious.

“It’s way stronger then I feared. This is insane!” Macao had shielded Romeo the best he could.

“What’s really insane is there are six more of those things!” Wakaba added.

“We cannot lose hope! We have to keep fighting!” Erza tried to keep moral up.

“Is everyone okay?” Freed asked, helping Evergreen up.

“You got to me kidding me. This is just like what we went through with Acnologia.” Elfman complained.

“It would appear that we have a long and dangerous struggle ahead of us.” Mavis said. This was one of the times she hated being a ghost. She wasn’t able to help her guild fight and she still had no strategy for defeating the dragons. Only a dragon could defeat a dragon.

“Don’t worry.” Makarov told her. “We still have a couple of tricks up our sleeves.” Fairy Tail would not give up easily and he would not allow his children to fight alone.

“Still standing after the roasting I gave you? You must be wizards!” Atlas Flame sounded slightly impressed with them.

“Damn right we are!” Makarov had come to stand before the dragon. He used his magic to grow in size until he was the same size as the huge beast. “Fairy Tail’s no ordinary wizards! The power we share is like none other! Because we are a family!” Makarov punched the dragon in the face and only got burned for his trouble. That didn’t stop him. He continued to try hitting and shoving the creature, looking for a weak spot. Atlas Flame knocked him down and he shrunk back down to his normal size. His arms were badly burned. Several members of the guild came to check on him. “No need to worry. I just got a little burned is all.”

“There is nothing you can do. Humans will never defeat a dragon!” Atlas Flame roared over them.

“Not even the master could stop it, then the rest of us don’t stand a chance.” Juvia said from where she was kneeling next to Makarov.

“Master Mavis!” Gray shouted over to where the first master was watching everything. “You’re a wiz with strategy, aren’t you? So, what do you think we should do?”

“Listen up!” Mavis shouted to get everyone’s attention. It had taken her a while to figure things out but she now had a strategy. “There are seven dragons. The plan of action should be completely obvious at this point.”

“What are you trying to say?” Erza asked.

Before she could answer Natsu’s voice rang out loud over the city. No one had been paying attention to the other fights or the fact that Natsu was apparently fighting on the back of the largest dragon that was flying over the city.

“Can you hear me!” Natsu shouted before he delivered a Fire Dragon: Iron Fist to Mother Glare’s back. It hurt the dragon and she fell several feet in the air before correcting herself. “Let’s quite playing around and use our Dragon-Slayer magic! There are seven dragons and we got seven Dragon-Slayers! We can do this! It’s what we were born for! Our whole lives have led to this day! Let’s use our powers and slay some freaking dragons! Who’s with me? Because I’m going dragon hunting!”

That was the same plan that Mavis had been coming up with. It wasn’t much but it was the only advantage they had and might be able to use. Apparently, she was correct that Dragon-Slayer magic would affect the dragons. Now it was only a matter of if their Dragon-Slayers were strong enough to defeat a real dragon. Things were complicated after that when Mother Glare laid hundreds of eggs over the city. All of them started to hatch immediately and they were surrounded by small, humanoid dragons.

Everyone was staring in shock at the new enemy before them. They were too scared by the sudden number of enemies to even think of what to do. Laxus shot a blast of lightning at Atlas Flame. He had infused his Dragon-Slayer magic into it. The attack actually hurt the dragon who roared in pain.

“Quite gawking!” He shouted at everyone. “Or did you not notice there are dragons to slay? I’ll take the big guy myself.” He told them as he walked towards it.

“You can’t do it alone.” Romeo called after him.

Freed, Bickslow, and Evergreen fell into step behind Laxus. “He’s not.” They said.

“We got his back.” Evergreen said.

“The Thunder Legion will handle this.” Freed told them.

“We’ll leave all the babies to you guys.” Bickslow laughed, like that was going to be an easy task. Of course, compared to the adults, the babies would be a walk in the park. Laxus was touched by his friends devotion to him, something he would never tell them, but it gave him strength. His dragon was even more pumped up. This wasn’t just a fight for fun, it now had something to protect.

“The rest of you, keep away from the big ones!” Mavis started giving out marching orders. “Remember what Natsu told us. Only Dragon-Slayers can beat them. Laxus, Thunder Legion, good luck.” She turned to Gajeel. “Gajeel, find another target.”

“You got it!” He acknowledged her.

“Everyone else, focus on the little ones.” Mavis told them. They would have to keep the babies away from the main fights going on. They couldn’t allow the Dragon-Slayers to get outnumbered.

Levy ran after Gajeel as the others started to divide up into teams to fight. “Gajeel, let me help you! I can support you!” She yelled after him.

“Don’t worry about me. You’ll have your hands full.” He stopped and pulled her into a hug. “You should go and help any stragglers get out of town.”

“I want to help you.” She told him.

“I won’t be able to focus if I’m worried about ya getting hurt. I need ta know you’re safe.” He told her. Levy bite her lip, unsure, but nodded in understanding. Gajeel gave her a quick, passionate kiss. It felt like a goodbye kiss and brought tears to Levy’s eyes. “Keep your guard up around those ankle biters.” He told her before running off in the direction of another dragon.

“Don’t go dying.” Elfman said as he walked past Evergreen.

“I don’t need you to tell me that, you big dummy.” Evergreen said, before adding in a quiet tone. “Don’t forget, dying isn’t manly.”

“Hey, Cana!” Laxus called at her to get her attention. He wanted to make sure she was safe as well. If he had his way he would be sending her off with Levy but he knew she would never listen to that. “Why don’t you go find your boy toy? He was pathetic during the games. I’m sure he could use the help.”

“Awe, you almost sounded concerned for a moment.” She told him. She had already planned on hunting down Bacchus and giving him a helping hand.

“Yeah, don’t get use to it.” He focused back on the dragon he was facing. He could feel when she left, it was like a physical ache. He wanted to go after her and make sure she was safe. It was his internal dragon that kept him from doing that. It kept him focused on the fight, even so he couldn’t shake Cana from his thoughts. “Bix, make sure Cana stays safe!”

“What?” His friend looked at him like he had grown two or three extra heads. “But boss …”

“Just go Bickslow! We will be fine here.” Laxus’ tone left no room for argument and Bickslow took off in the direction Cana had gone. Laxus instantly felt at ease and was able to fully focus on his fight.

“Lightning Dragon: Roar!” Laxus sent his attack right at Atlas Flames face. “I think a billion volts to the face ought to shut you up for a while.”

Atlas Flame laughed at him. “That didn’t hurt one bit. My Hellfire burns magic away.”

“Damn, that hit didn’t even touch him.” It looked like Laxus had got lucky with his first attack and surprised the dragon. When he knew the attack was coming his lightning didn’t even tickle the monster.

“It appears lightning is useless against fire. You’re just not a good match for this one.” Freed commented as they grouped together to think of a plan of attack.

“Is there such a thing as a water Dragon-Slayer?” Evergreen asked. It wasn’t as stupid a question as it sounded.

“If there is, I’ve never heard of it.” Laxus said. Where was Natsu when you needed him. He grew up with a fire dragon, right? He should know how to take down a dragon like this. As if he had known what Laxus was thinking Natsu fell out of the sky. He landed right on the back of Atlas Flame. “Natsu?”

“A real fire dragon!” Natsu sounded excited. He was clinging to Atlas Flames back. “This one is all mine!”

“Who are you, Pest?” Atlas Flame was trying to turn to look at the human that was on his back. How was the creature not dead from being incased in his flames?

“I’m Natsu Dragneel! And I’m the guy who’s going to eat you!” Natsu said before he took a huge bite out of the dragon. He started sucking the flames down.

“What?!” Laxus was shocked at what he saw. Did Natsu really plan to just eat the dragon to defeat it? Could that even work? “You’re crazy, Natsu!”

“You? Eat me? You can’t be serious!” Atlas Flame was still trying to get a look at the flea on his back.

“I’m dead serious.” Natsu said with his mouth full of the dragons flames. “And your fire taste delicious.” Atlas Flame tried slamming his back into buildings to get Natsu off him but Natsu wasn’t letting go.

“Natsu! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Laxus shouted up at him.

“What does it look like? Getting this tasty old dragon into my belly!” Natsu was still munching on the fire.

“Okay …” Laxus didn’t know what else to say. He was dumbfounded by the sight. Atlas Flame was still trying to get Natsu off and he was refusing to move. Maybe his plan wasn’t that crazy. It was clearly bothering the dragon, even if it was just annoying it.

“You and your guys should get over to the castle right now!” Natsu told Laxus. “Wendy needs some backup!”

“Even though she is a Dragon-Slayer, she’s rather young and inexperienced.” Evergreen said.

“I agree that we should go help. Who better to fight a fire dragon than a Fire Dragon-Slayer? Don’t you think?” Freed added, both looking at Laxus.

Laxus didn’t need them to try and convince him. The second Natsu said that Wendy needed help his inner dragon had responded. It viewed Wendy as its child and nothing was going to harm her. He just had to make sure Natsu would be alright first. “You sure you can handle this one?”

“Yeah! And after I eat him, I should have tons of power!” Natsu assured him before going back to his feast.

“Well, lets get going. I’ll head up to the castle, the two of you help with pest control.” He told Freed and Evergreen. They didn’t even argue with him to which he was grateful. He ran in the direction of the castle, not sure what he was going to find there.

While Laxus had been fighting Atlas Flame, Cana and Bickslow were looking for Bacchus. It wasn’t easy to hunt the other man down. When the babies attacked the other guilds all split up to fight them. It was hard work getting anywhere in the city. Around every corner there seemed to be more dragon children. If it wasn’t for Bickslow’s help, Cana probably would have never found where Bacchus was fighting with the help of Rocker. She joined into their fight against half a dozen of the babies. Her lightning attack and Bickslow’s babies took them all out, making it look almost easy.

“Though you boys could use some help.” Cana told them, gloating a little.

“Man, must hurt getting saved by a girl.” Bickslow teased the two.

“That was Wild!” Rocker and Bacchus said together. “Thanks for the help.” Bacchus added.

“I can’t let your ass get killed.” Cana said, smacking his ass as she did. “Where would the fun in that be?”

“I hate to break up the love fest, but maybe we should focus?” Bickslow pointed out as more of the baby dragons come around a pile of rubble.

Bacchus took out the two baby dragons using his palm magic. He was fighting mostly sober, not his favorite way to fight but he couldn’t exactly have the onslaught of dragons wait for him to go get drunk. It was making his reflects slower than normal. That might be why he didn’t notice the third dragon until it was too late. The baby crawled over a pile of rubble behind him. It knocked him off his feet with its tail and launched a blast attack at him.

Cana saw the dragon before Bacchus did but wasn’t fast enough to stop it from knocking him down. She didn’t even think about what she was doing when she ran between him and the creature. The next thing she knew a blast went right through her chest. The world went black as she fell to the ground.

When Laxus reached the castle, he saw that Wendy and Mira were fighting the Jade dragon, Zarconis. Mira looked like she was badly hurt and Wendy was barely holding her own as she flew around with Carla’s help. It looked like this dragon was going to be just as hard to take down as Atlas Flame was.

“Mira! Leave this to the Dragon-Slayers, would ya!” He called at the She-Demon. He could tell she wouldn’t be able to fight much longer and soon she would just become a weakness for Wendy. He waited until Mira was out of the way and Wendy was placed on the ground next to him. “Let’s see how you like this?”

Laxus sent a bolt of lightning at the jade dragon that roared in pain. “Damn you!” It looked like Zarconis didn’t have the same protection against his magic that Atlas Flame had. This might not be a pointless fight after all. Laxus’ inner dragon was starting to feel hopeful and being beside Wendy seemed to give him more strength. He kept feeding the electricity into Zarconis, essentially trapping him.

“You’re going up against the wrong guy.” Laxus told him, starting to feel confident.

“That cocky attitude will only get you do far, little insect.” Zarconis stretched his wings and broke free of the electricity around him. He then sent his own breath attack at Laxus who was just able to dodge it.

“If you’re going to go around calling people insects, then you’d better be ready to face the consequences!” He sent another lighting attack at Zarconis. He put more magic power in his attack this time but it didn’t even seem to phase the dragon the second time around.

“That’s good. Keep it coming, you little Brat.” Zarconis was laughing at him.

“Bastard.” Laxus was leaning to hate these dragons. “Eat my Raging Bolt!” He tried using his strongest lightning bolt attack but Zarconis just laughed at him.

“Ridiculous! After all your bluster, is this really the best you can do, punk?” The dragon chuckled at him.

“I’m just getting warmed up.” Laxus wasn’t about to stand down. He was going to have to join forces with Wendy. The girl seemed to understand this as she hit Zarconis with her Wing Attack. “Nice hit, Wendy! Give him hell!”

They used a joint Breath Attack to knock Zarconis to the ground. It was the first real damage they had been able to deliver on the dragon. “So, I seem to recall that you were flapping your gums earlier about bluster, weren’t you?”

Zarconis got back up onto his feet. “You have the nerve to hit my handsome face? You’re trying to make me angry, aren’t ya? I’ve had just about enough if this. I can play all night with these little girls, but I don’t have much interest in messing around with guys. So, I’m going to eat this little morsel right up. Clothing and all.” He turned to face Wendy, taking a step closer to her. “That man is all tough and stingy looking. Not appetizing. But you …” The dragon licked his lips as he moved to eat Wendy.

“Wendy! Run!” Laxus shouted at her as he ran between her and the dragon. Laxus was planning to launch a counter attack at the beast but the moment he was facing it he felt something inside him break. It was as if a rubber band inside him was pulled taught and snapped in half. The pain of it took his breath away. It was as if something vital was ripped out of his chest. _Our Mate!_ His inner dragon roared. _Our mate is dead!_ Laxus couldn’t process the words bounding around in his head. His mate was dead? Cana was dead? Laxus couldn’t understand the pain he felt, he couldn’t think, couldn’t move. He had never felt anything like this before in his life. It was worse than any wound he had ever received. Was this pain just because of the magic that connected the two of them or was there more to it?

Laxus was knocked out of his mental slump when teeth pierced his body. It took precious seconds to realize that he was inside Zarconis’ mouth. The last thought Laxus had was that being eaten didn’t hurt near as bad as losing Cana had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is where I leave you.  
> The End  
> …  
> …  
> I’m joking. I wouldn’t do that to you. Well I would do that, but Ultear won’t do that to you. Have no fear there will be more to this little story of ours. Things are about to get interesting.


	17. Consequences

Laxus froze in the middle of his battle with Zarconis. He had never frozen during a fight before but he couldn’t process the images that suddenly filled his mind. He could feel the pain that ripped through his body at the loss of Cana. He couldn’t breathe as he tried to sort out what was in his mind and what was really happening. It had all seemed so real but already the images were fading into the background. They slipped from his mind like a dream. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Cana was in danger, that she could be dead.

“What was that?” Wendy asked. She had seen images of the future too. She saw Laxus run in front of her and be swallowed by Zarconis. She was grateful as the images faded away.

Laxus shook his head to help himself focus. He would have to trust Bickslow to watch after Cana. “We can figure it out later.” He refocused his attacks with Wendy.

“Baryon Formation!”

Cana heard the shout of Bickslow spell as it flew over her shoulder. The blast hit the baby dragon that was going after Bacchus just as it came over a pile of rubble. Cana was just processing what she had seen and Bickslow had already reacted. The Seith mage didn’t even think to question what he saw, he just reacted. If anything happened to Cana he was sure Laxus would fry his ass.

“Remind me to thank Laxus for being an over protective ass.” Cana told Bickslow. “I’d be dead if he didn’t send you along.”

“Maybe we should focus a little more now?” He asked her. It was the first time Cana had ever heard him sound annoyed.

The four of them formed a circle around each other, watching each other’s back. Even with the four of them together they were quickly getting overwhelmed by the number of dragons in the area. Something was going to need to happen soon or they would be in true trouble. They were quickly running out of magic power.

Laxus was near the Eclipse Gate when Natsu crashed Mother Glare into it. He had just heard Lucy talking about how they needed to destroy the thing when Natsu fell out of the sky with the giant dragon right into the gate, causing a huge shock wave. If you need something destroyed Natsu is always your man. After the gate was gone the dragons and hatchlings in the city started to fade away, returning to their time.

Laxus didn’t pay much attention to what was going on. He was worried about what had happened to Cana. He couldn’t shake the bad feeling he had from his vision. His dragon was calm but he was still freaking out.

 _Our mate is fine_. His dragon told him.

 _I felt her die_. Laxus told it. He could still feel the pain from it. It wasn’t just a pain in his chest, it was a full body ache. He felt weak from it and was having a hard time focusing on anything else.

 _What if she did? We could take a new mate._ His dragon, who was normally very insistent about Cana being his mate, was strangely uninterested.

 _I don’t want another mate._ He growled. Zarconis had fully disappeared at this time and Laxus felt like this meant to was safe for him to go looking for Cana now.

The fact his dragon was calm should have reassured him. If it wasn’t worried about Cana than that meant she was safe, right? Laxus had to find her, he had to be sure. He ignored the complaints from his dragon as he tried to find her scent. It was difficult to smell anyone with all the dust and blood around the city. The dragons might be gone but the damage they did was still there. He was focused on finding Cana but he also couldn’t ignore the people he found on the way in need of help. Everyone was gathering in Crystal Plaza where the royal healers would be heading to take care of the injured. More than once Laxus had stopped to help free people trapped in rubble and direct them in the right direction of help.

He picked up Bickslow’s scent first and took off in the direction it was coming from. He picked up Cana’s scent along with the drunk’s and another member from Quatro Cerberus on the way. When he found the group, they were in the remains of a building. Bickslow was sitting against a wall with Cana sitting next to him, his babies were all in his lap instead of floating around, a sign he was low on magic power. Laxus wasn’t worried about him though, his eyes went right to Cana. She had blood running down her face from a cut to her forehead and she was holding her right arm to her chest. She had several scrapes and abrasions over her body but nothing looked too serious. He ran over to her side.

“Laxus?” Cana asked when she saw him. He looked like shit and not just from his battles. He was mostly uninjured from the dragons, but something on his face made it look like he had been through hell. He reached out for her and stopped just before touching her. She heard him curse before he tossed the coat he had over his shoulders around her. Before she could ask what he was doing she was pulled into his arms. His coat worked as a barrier between their skin while he held her in a crushing hold. She could feel his body was trembling and she tried to sooth him. “What’s wrong? Talk to me.”

Laxus tried to say something but he couldn’t get the words to form. His hand went to the back of her neck and pressed her head into his bandaged shoulder. When his hand touched the mark on her neck, Cana became overwhelmed by a tidal wave of emotions. She felt the fear and pain Laxus experienced when he though she was dead. The guilt he had at not being there to protect her. His relief at finding her alive. His anger at Bickslow for letting her get hurt and his worry over his friend. Fueling all of those emotions was love. It was strong and pure and it was more than Cana every expected to feel.

“I … I’m glad your safe.” Laxus finally managed to say. There was so much more he wanted to say to her. More he needed to tell her. As he held her, the words just wouldn’t come.

“I’m still kicking too.” Bickslow said when the tension in the air started to get awkward. He had been expecting Laxus to release Cana or something. Laxus reached out and grabbed Bickslow’s shoulder, pulling him into a sideways hug.

“Thank you.” Laxus told him.

“Who are you, and what did you do with Laxus?” Bickslow asked. Laxus had never thanked him in his life, let alone hugged the man.

Laxus chuckled and let him and Cana go. “Very funny. You mention this to anyone and I’m going to fry you.”

Cana felt the loss of her connection with Laxus like a blow to her head. She had been so full of his emotions that she now felt empty without them. Her head spun as she adjusted to only having her feelings. Everything felt darker, colder, without the warmth of his love. She couldn’t begin to process everything she had just felt.

“Isn’t that your girl he’s feeling up?” Rocker asked Bacchus from where they were standing to the side, watching the Fairy Tail mages.

“Dude just took on a dragon, ya tell him to back off. I like livin’.” Bacchus responded. He didn’t like Laxus at all, but he wasn’t going to hurt Cana right now. He had clearly been worried about her and as long as he didn’t hurt her, Bacchus was going to leave them alone.

Laxus helped Cana to her feet before even acknowledging that Bacchus and Rocker were there. Both looked to be in rough shape but they could stand on their own, unlike Cana.

“Hey, drunk, come take your girlfriend.” Laxus barked the order at him. His inner dragon was growling at him. Laxus didn’t like it anymore than his dragon did, but it didn’t change facts. He had come to a realization while he had been looking for her. His panic had come from him, not his dragon, not some stupid magic bond, but him. He didn’t want her hurt, he didn’t know what he would have done is she had died, he was in love with her. Even so, he didn’t know yet what that meant or what he could do about it. Cana was with Bacchus right now and he had fucked things up, that was the facts.

Bacchus came over and put his arm around Cana to help support her weight. He was careful to avoid touching her right side, his hand resting on her hip instead. Laxus told them about how everyone was gathering at the plaza and about the healers there. He ordered Bacchus to take Cana to get looked at, not that he had to make it an order.

“Where are you going?” Cana asked him. She was leaning heavily on Bacchus; her right leg didn’t want to support her. One of the baby dragons had tackled her right side. She was sure she had broken ribs and at least a twisted ankle. She had also overdone herself and her right shoulder was killing her from pushing the weakened muscles to hard.

“I’m going to look for more survivors. Make sure everyone gets home. Fairy Tail doesn’t leave anyone behind.” He told her. Cana smiled at him and he answered with his own smile.

“Look at you, you’re starting to remind me of this boy I knew.” Cana felt a swelling in her chest, she could see the boy she first fell in love with before her. She felt Bacchus tighten his hold on her and instantly felt guilty.

“We should get you to one of those healers.” Bacchus said, shifting his hold on her. He wasn’t jealous, he just didn’t like them being so friendly. He helped her work her way through the city to the Crystal Plaza. Laxus and Bickslow had gone different ways to look for more injured. Bickslow was running low on magic power but he was mostly unhurt from the fighting, his babies having protected him. Rocker had gone with Bacchus and Cana.

It was past noon when Laxus finally showed up at the makeshift camp. It had been a rough morning for him. There had been countless building that needed to be searched, all of which were on the edge of collapse. Fairy Tail had made it through the battle without any losses, not everyone was so lucky. Laxus had come across more than one body early on and as the day continued and those that were able to make it to the city center on their own had, Laxus was finding more bodies and people close to death. He helped everyone that he could and the ones he couldn’t he had moved to safe locations and sent up flares to notify their guilds. Laxus was physically and emotionally drained by the time he walked into the camp. His dragon had long since gone silent and the stench of blood and death clung to Laxus. He felt ill and the noise and scents in the camp didn’t help.

Laxus checked in with his team first on getting to camp. Evergreen and Freed had made it through everything in decent shape and were in a tent with Bickslow and the Strauss family. Elfman and Lisanna were beat up but Mira was in the worse shape after her fight with Zarconis. All three would need a few days of rest but they would recover easily.

After that he checked on Natsu’s team and Wendy. Natsu was on the top of the world even with all his injuries, excited that he got to fight a real dragon and her apparently now had an uncle, whatever that meant. No one mentioned that not a single dragon had been defeated. All the Dragon-Slayers were feeling the pain from that. Erza was hurt more from her battle during the games than the dragons but she had still pushed herself way too far. Gray, Lucy and Juvia were all in decent shape considering. Wendy was insisting that she could help with the healing but Carla was insistent that she stay in bed and Laxus agreed.

Laxus made his way around the camp and checked on every one of his guild members. He didn’t have a reason for this outside of wanting to make sure his family was together. After seeing so much death he needed to make sure that his guild had come out fine. The last tent he came to had Gajeel and Levy inside with Panther Lily. Gajeel was on a cot with Levy looking after his injuries. The man wasn’t happy about it but he let Levy take care of him. Laxus had been looking for the Iron Dragon-Slayer. He had questions only Gajeel could answer.

“I’m surprised you’re still alive. Thought for sure you would get swallowed whole.” Laxus said as he entered the tent. He earned a glare from both Gajeel and Levy.

“Funny, I heard you were the one that was almost eaten.” Gajeel shot back at him.

“Yeah, dragon breath stinks.” Laxus laughed and got a little chuckle out of Gajeel. “Can I talk to you about something?” He tried to pull off a casual tone.

“What’s on your mind, Sparky?”

Laxus looked around at Levy and Panther Lily. “Can we talk alone?”

“I’m not leaving Gajeel.” Levy protested. Panther Lily touched her arm to get her attention and shook his head at her.

“I think we should give them space.” Lily was relatively new to the guild and didn’t know much about Laxus but he got the distinct impression that he wasn’t someone that asked for anything. If he needed something from Gajeel then it wasn’t likely he would discuss it with others around. Luckily, Levy trusted his judgement and left the tent with him. She did stay close outside incase Gajeel needed her.

Laxus moved to take the seat Levy had been in so he could talk quietly and avoid being overheard. “During the fight, did something happen? Like you saw things before they happened?”

“Yeah, weird shit, I knew what the dragon was going ta do before it did.” Gajeel remembered the moment that had probably saved his skin.

“Same thing happened to me. When it happened, I felt …” Laxus sighed and his head fell into his hands. Even remembering it was painful. “Cana died.”

“What!” Gajeel bolted up. No one had told him that Cana died. “Fuck man …” He didn’t know what to say.

“She’s alive” Laxus said quickly, realizing Gajeel had the wrong idea. “I just … I felt her die. She was gone one second and the next it was like it didn’t happen. It was the weirdest shit.”

“What was it like?” Gajeel asked after a moment of silence.

“It fucking hurt. Like physically hurt. This thing inside me just broke and my damn dragon lost its shit. I wouldn’t suggest trying it.” Laxus tried to push the feeling out of his head.

“That’s rough man.” Gajeel said in sympathy.

“I need to know more about this thing between me and Cana. I didn’t have a dragon to teach me like you did. Can you …” It was hard for Laxus to ask for help. He wanted to understand more about this. He didn’t want to hurt Cana. But he was still Laxus and asking for help was not easy for him.

“When we get back to Magnolia I was going ta have a talk with Wendy about some things she never learned, including mates. You could stop by, if ya wanted.” Gajeel told him. He had thought about making Laxus actually ask for help but decided not to. This was affecting Cana too and he like Cana enough to throw her mate a life line.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Laxus said before getting up and leaving. He was going to make sure he was there when Gajeel talked with Wendy. Maybe he could finally get answers.

Laxus had checked on everyone at that point except Makarov and Cana. Makarov was with the other guild masters planning out what to do next. Cana hadn’t been in any of the Fairy Tail tents and that made Laxus’ anxiety sky rocket. He went searching for her for the second time that day and found her in Quatro Cerberus’ part of the camp. He saw her in a tent with Bacchus. Her arm was in a sling and her ribs were wrapped and she had a bandage over the cut on her forehead. She looked like she was going to be okay. He was going to go in and say something about her not being with the guild but stopped himself. Cana was smiling and holding Bacchus’ hand. She looked happy. They were joking and laughing about the battle. If Laxus went in there he would only cause problems. The best thing he could do now was see if he could be of any help with reconstruction planning.

Cana was aware of Laxus outside the tent. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to seem him yet and was grateful when he walked away without saying anything. She hadn’t been able to think much about what had happened after the fighting stopped. She wasn’t even sure if Laxus knew what he had been feeling. Even if he did, she wasn’t sure that it mattered. She loved him and being away from him hurt, it hurt even more now that she knew how he felt. But she couldn’t stop thinking about everything that had happened between them. Bacchus had been right, Laxus was abusive. She hated to think of it that way but it was the truth. She also wanted to run back into his arms, she wanted to feel his love again and never let that feeling go. There had to be something wrong with her.

The week after the dragon attack was highly eventful. The death toll came in at twelve from seven different guilds. None of the competing guilds had lost members but they all felt the loss as if the twelve wizards had belonged to their guilds. Most of the guilds were staying around to help rebuild the city, no one stopped the seven guilds that lost members from leaving. Cana had refused to have Wendy heal her injuries, insisting that she help people that were more injured then her. Cana and Laxus were both avoiding each other during the week. Both were still trying to figure out their feelings and what they wanted to do next. Laxus’ dragon would try and encourage him go to her on occasion but Laxus would just tell it to shut up. When it became increasingly annoying Laxus started insulting it and the fact that it wasn’t strong enough to take down a dragon. It hurt Laxus’ ego but it always made his dragon hide away for a few hours.

At the end of the week the king had a ball to celebrate the end of the games with all the competing guilds. This was the first day Cana was able to go without wearing her arm in a sling. All the girls had dresses provided for them to wear. It was a lot fancier than Cana was use too and most of the girls needed Lucy’s help in putting on the extravagant dresses. All the boys were wearing nice suits that must have been provided for them as well. Most of them looked uncomfortable in their clothes, but after some drinks everyone was more relaxed. There was a small fight that broke out, as will happen with wizard guilds, but it was all in good fun. Everyone had become friends over the week, even Sabertooth had turned over a new leaf.

As the night went on, everyone was starting to pair up for dancing. Cana had never been much of a dancer but Bacchus pulled her out to dance with him. Laxus was watching Cana when Freed came over and silently watched him. Laxus wasn’t unaware of his friends attraction to him but he just didn’t like guys. He actually only like one person who was currently dancing with someone else. He could feel his inner dragon starting to get jealous and figured it would be best to just leave instead of causing a scene in the castle. He just had one thing he was going to take care of before he left. He went over to Freed and put and arm around his shoulders, causing the smaller man to blush.

“La … Laxus?” Freed stuttered. Laxus had never behaved in such a fashion around him.

“I’m not really feeling up for dancing tonight.” Laxus told him. He felt Freed deflate under him. He pointed over to where Rufus was standing across the room watching the pair. “He’s been watching you all night though, maybe he would like to dance.”

Freed turned redder then Laxus had ever seen him. Freed had been working closely with Rufus over the week and had come to appreciate the man. He was nothing compared to Laxus, few people could measure up to him, but Freed got along well with the man. Freed was aware that nothing would ever happen between him and Laxus, a point that was drilled home after finding out about Cana, but he wasn’t ready to move on. It was stupid of him, but a part of him still hoped.

“I’ll make it an order if I have to.” Laxus said as he saw the internal debate Freed was having play out on his face.

“Well … If you insist.” Freed nodded before walking over to Rufus. Laxus stayed long enough to make sure that the two actually were dancing before he slipped out of the party.

“Ya want to get out of here?” Bacchus asked Cana as they danced. He held her close to him as they swayed with the slow beat of the music.

“I thought you would never ask.” Cana had been thinking about getting him out of his clothes for at least three songs. They made their way out of the party, unnoticed, and headed back to the newly rebuilt hotel.

Cana was desperate for Bacchus. It wasn’t the same feeling she had with Laxus and in some ways it felt less real. She wanted someone, anyone, and Bacchus was the man that had stepped up. She was pulling at the layers of clothes he was wearing in growing frustration. The last week had been hell and she would give anything to forget for a few minutes how complicated her life had become. When she got his shirt unbonded and found the skin underneath she sighed happily. She ran her hands over his chest and pushed the shirt and jacket down his arms.

“Someone’s feeling wild.” Bacchus commented as he found Cana’s zipper and let her dress fall to the ground.

“No talking, just fucking.” Cana pushed him back on the bed and kissed him as she climbed on top of him.

Bacchus flipped them over and kissed a trail down her neck. He lightly nipped at her skin along the way. Cana was working at getting his pants off as he kissed across her collarbone and down her breast, taking one of her nipples between his lips. Cana cursed as she arched up to him. Her hands gripped tight onto his arms. Her breast had always been hyper sensitive but the exposition of pleasure had caught her off guard. She closed her eyes and just let herself enjoy the feeling as he teased first one peak then the other. She was beginning to wonder if it was possible to cum from just this when he moved further south, kissing down her stomach. Cana whimpered at the loss until she felt his fingers brush against her center over her underwear.

“Please …” She begged, lifting her hips up to help with the removal of her last piece of clothing. Bacchus slid them down and then kissed his way back up to her center. Cana’s fingers went to tangle in his hair as his tongue ran over her folds. She was expecting to feel short soft locks but instead her fingers found long hair pulled back into a covered bun. This startled her for some reason and she moved away from Bacchus. Cana hadn’t realized that she had let her mind wonder and imagine she was with Laxus.

“Cana? What’s wrong?” Bacchus looked worried.

Cana shook her head to clear it before kissing Bacchus lightly. “I’m good.” She pulled him on top of her. He still looked a little unsure as she reached between them to finish removing the pants she had started on earlier. Cana couldn’t look at him so she kissed along his shoulder as she wrapped her legs around his hips.

Bacchus tried to push his worry away but he could still feel some tension in Cana’s body. He tried to get back into the moment but was having difficulties. He could tell that she wasn’t into it anymore. He tried to pretend everything was normal, kissing her. He rubbed his hardness against her center causing her to moan and grip him tighter. After a few moments though it was clear things were not going well. Cana was going through the motions but he could feel that she was distracted. He rolled over onto his back with a groan.

“Bacchus?” It was Cana’s turn to look worried. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re not into this. I wish I could pretend like ya are, but you’re not.” Some days being a secret gentleman sucked.

Cana couldn’t deny it. She was distracted, she had been distracted all week. She didn’t want things to stop because of that though. “I’m okay, I promise.”

“I don’t want ya thinking about him while I’m fucking ya.”

Cana didn’t have anything she could say to that. His words went over her like a bucket of ice water. She knew that nothing else was going to happen that night. It was her own fault and she couldn’t blame Bacchus for stopping. She could see his body was clearly still ready and willing. So, she didn’t understand why she felt like she was going to cry. She could feel her eyes stinging and her throat tighten.

“Oh man, don’t cry.” Bacchus quickly pulled her over so she was laying across his chest, rubbing her back to comfort her. “Please don’t cry over this.”

“I’m not crying because of you.” She didn’t know why she was crying. That just made her frustrated and she cried more.  It seemed like once she started she couldn’t stop. All the stress of the last week seemed to pour over her right then. As she cried she started to get angry.

“Fuck this. Fuck this week. Fuck this city. Fuck Laxus. Fuck everything.” This past week had been hell. She was constantly tired from trying to rebuild the town when injured. Laxus had been avoiding her like she had done something wrong. There was this strain between her and Bacchus that grew as each day passed and they were closer to going home. After the stress from the games and the dragon attack she really just needed a break from everything.

Bacchus let Cana have her little fit. He knew that she had been feeling stressed lately and there wasn’t anything he could really do to help. He got up and got them both something to drink from his personal stash. He might not be able to make her feel better, but he could make her forget.

The next day Fairy Tail was ready to head back to Magnolia. Everyone was packed up and ready to go except Cana. She had told Makarov that she was going to be stay in Crocus for a little while longer. He had understood, assuming that she wanted more time with Bacchus before returning and wished her well. Cana had told Bacchus that she was heading back to Magnolia and that she would come visit him at Quatro Cerberus’ guildhall in a week. She wanted to have time to herself to think about everything that had happened while in Crocus.

Cana now knew more about what it meant to be a Dragon-Slayers mate. She knew she loved Laxus and, more importantly, that he loved her. She also had got to know Bacchus. He was a good man and he treated her right. They had a lot in common and she enjoyed being around him. She could learn to love him one day, if that was something she wanted. She couldn’t think while she was around the guys though. She had decided that she was going to head out and try to find her father. Maybe Gildarts would have some advice on what she should do. She just had to hope he didn’t decided to kill one or both guys.


	18. It's a Girl

The members of Fairy Tail were welcomed home like heroes. The whole of Magnolia was there to celebrate. They had even helped rebuild the old guildhall with some new expansions. It didn’t take long for the job request to come flying in. Soon the guild had more job request than they could hope to fill. Laxus was more than happy to take one of the first S-Class request that came in with the rest of his team. The meeting with Gajeel and Wendy was going to have to wait until he returned.

The job was different than the normal jobs they would take. There was a small village that was having to deal with six Wyverns attacking their town almost daily. This had been an on and off issue for years and no one they had contacted in the past had been able to stop them. The village was now reaching out to every guild that had competed in the games. Laxus jumped on the job as soon as it came in. Finishing this would help solidify Fairy Tail’s position within the magical community.

The village was located in a forested area at the base of a mountain. After years of attacks it had become known as the Dragon Village. Laxus could sense the presence of the Wyvern before they even got close to the village. He was sure there was a lot more than six of them. He had always enjoyed a good Wyvern hunt and they didn’t come in very often. For the most part Wyverns and humans avoided each other. Wyverns lived in the high mountains above where humans were able to settle. It was strange to have any this far down the mountain let alone to have such a large group in one place.

They met with the village leader and learned what they could about the attacks. For the past four years they have had a Wyvern problem. It started with just one and has grown to at least six this past year. The attacks start in the spring and go until the late fall, only stopping once the snow starts to set in. The Wyvern have made it nearly impossible to get supplies into the remote village and people were now afraid to come anywhere near. A majority of the village had already left and if they could not solve the problem this year they were going to have to abandon their homes.

Laxus lead the way up into the mountain in search of the Wyverns lair. Because Wyverns were so closely related to dragons, Laxus was normally able to locate them easily. He lead them up to a large cliff face. The Wyvern were located at the top, they could hear them, but there didn’t seem to be a way to get up to them.

“I will take a look at what we are dealing with, shall I?” Freed asked. When Laxus nodded he activated his Dark Ecriture: Wings and flew up to look over the top of the cliff.

Sitting on the top of the cliff was six adult ice Wyverns, each was located next to a nest. Two of the nest had two babies in them, looking to be a few months old and almost ready to fly. Three other nests had one baby each, looking to be around the same age. The final nest appeared to be empty from Freed’s point of view. He quickly flew back down to report to the team. “We have six adults and seven juveniles. It appears they have made this into a nesting ground of sorts.”

“That would explain why they return every year and in greater numbers.” Evergreen said.

“Unlucky number thirteen. This is going to be fun.” Bickslow was grinning.

“How long until the young ones will be flying?” Laxus asked Freed. He didn’t know why but he was feeling protective of the young Wyverns. It probably had something to do with his damn dragon wanting its own kids. Yeah, it could go right on dreaming there.

“A few days, a week at most.” Freed answer. “Do you have a plan?”

Laxus nodded. “Yeah, lets head back to the village for now. We’ll protect them until those kids grow up a little.”

“But won't that make them harder to fight?” Bickslow questioned. “I mean, I’m having flash backs to a certain dragon horde.”

“Trust me, everything will work out.” Laxus assured them before heading back to the village.

The group took turns watching over the village and defending them against the Wyverns. They attacked in pairs or groups of three. Laxus had given instructions that they were only to chase them off and to avoid injuring them. Every day Laxus would send someone up to check on the juveniles and see how they were growing. After four days the juveniles were leaving their nest and starting to test their flying abilities.

“We are going to have a much larger problem if we don’t act soon.” Freed told Laxus after he reported back from checking the nest. All the babies were successfully gliding and starting to hunt on their own. “We will not be able to take down thirteen Wyverns, no matter their age.”

“We’re not going to take them down. We are going to chase them off. We don’t know why they have decided to nest here, but they are away from their natural food source, that is why they are attack the village. If we chase them back up into the high mountains they will leave the village alone.” Laxus explained to his team.

“But won’t they just come back next year?” Evergreen asked.

“Not if we destroy the nesting grounds. Freed can also place enchantments to keep them from being able to return. Hopefully next year they will find somewhere else to have their children.” It wasn’t a full proof plan but it was better then killing the creatures for just following their instincts.

“It sounds like you’re going a little soft, boss man.” Bickslow commented, his babies echoing “Yeah, soft.”

“Weren’t you the one saying he was having flash backs to the dragon horde? Are you saying your now ready to fight them, because I would love to watch you get yourself killed.” Laxus shrugged and waved his hand at Bickslow. “Please, don’t let me stop you.”

“Yeah, fine, we will try it your way.” Bickslow reluctantly agreed.

They headed out to the nesting grounds early the next morning. Freed, Evergreen and Bickslow all flew above the still sleeping Wyverns in a half circle between them and the village, leaving the only way for them to go as farther up the mountain. Laxus appeared in the middle of the nesting grounds on a bolt of lightning.  The clash of thunder waking the Wyverns around them. The adult Wyverns tried to stand up and fight against them in defense of the younger ones. Laxus and Freed worked to keep the adults back. His dragon had no issues with him attacking the adults. At the same time Evergreen and Bickslow worked on scaring the young ones up into the higher mountains. The juveniles didn’t know what to do at first and called out to their mothers for help. Eventually one got the idea to fly away and soon the others followed suit. Once the juveniles were heading up the mountain most of the adults followed them. Eventually they were left with one adult that refused to leave the nesting grounds.

“What should we do Laxus?” Evergreen asked as the four of them circled the last adult.

“I guess she is leaving us no choice. We have to take her out.” Laxus gave the order. He heard Bickslow chuckling and even his own dragon was excited to take down the Wyvern. In a four on one battle it didn’t take long for them to but an end to the beast.

After that Freed went to work on putting up runes that would keep the Wyverns from locating the nesting ground again. It was slow work as he had to make sure the runes would last at least one year and there couldn’t be any holes in them. While he worked on that, Laxus, Evergreen and Bickslow worked on destroying the nests. They had to make sure their was no trace of them left.

“I wonder why this one wouldn’t leave with the others.” Laxus mused to himself, looking at the remains of the large creature. They were going to have to dispose of that too.

“This might have something to do with it.” Bickslow’s voice came from one of the nests. When Laxus looked over he was holding up a large egg.

“What is that?” Evergreen asked, both her and Laxus headed over for a closer look.

The egg was close to a foot and a half tall, it was mostly white with red markings around the outside. It was much to small to be a Wyverns egg. What was it doing in one of the nests?

“What do you say we fry it up?” Bickslow asked.

“You can’t cook it!” Evergreen hit him with her fan before taking the egg away from him. “What if there’s a baby in here.”

“You don’t even know what it is. It could be some horrible monster.” Bickslow pointed out, rubbing the back of his head where she had hit him. His babies were floating around laughing at him.

“I don’t think so. Look at the pattern on it. It looks like fairy wings.” She held the egg up so the boys could see the markings.

There was a pattern to the red marks on the egg. It reminded Laxus of dragonfly wings, like they had been wrapped around the large egg. It suddenly hit Laxus what kind of egg this must be. “I know what this is!”

“What is it?” Evergreen asked in excitement.

“Yeah, spit it out.” Bickslow said.

“It’s an Exceed egg. They made a home in the forest south of here. The Wyvern must have stolen one of their eggs and planned to raise it. That’s why it didn’t want to leave. It was protecting the egg.” Laxus quickly grabbed the egg from Evergreen. It felt heavier than he was expecting and it was warm. His inner dragon was purring. _Kin?_

 _No, not kin._ He pushed down the parental instinct inside of him.

“We should take it back to the Exceeds then.” Freed said as he came over and joined the discussion. He was apparently done laying down the runes.

Laxus agreed with him. They finished the clean up of the nesting grounds and headed back to the village. Laxus held on to the egg the entire time, intent on keeping the thing warm. When they got back to the village Freed told the village leader about how they had chased off the Wyverns and put up protections against them. They also promised to return in the spring to assure that the Wyverns did not return and attempt to nest near the village again. Everyone in the village seemed happy with this arrangement and thanked them for their work in protecting the village and chasing off the Wyvern.

They set out immediately to go looking for the Exceeds to the south. They knew that they were in the forest not far from Blue Pegasus but that was all the information they had on them. While they searched Laxus looked after the egg, who he had started referring to as Dragonfly. He made sure it never got to cold and was safe from anything that might try and hurt it. He used the excuse that he didn’t want to return a dead child to the Exceeds, it had nothing to do with the fatherly feelings he had. After almost a week of looking they had yet to find the Exceeds.

“I say we just go home. They probably think the thing is dead anyways.” Bickslow was complaining while they sat around the campfire one night.

“How would you feel if your child just disappeared one day?” Freed asked him. He was currently watching after the egg, washing it with a hot cloth.

“If I ever had a kid I would probably be relieved if they vanished.” Bickslow shrugged then screamed in pain as he get hit with a bolt of lightning. “What was that for?!”

“Don’t joke about those things.” Laxus told him. He knew he didn’t use enough power to actually hurt his friend. Bix was more then use to Laxus’ lightning by now. He was always saying stupid things that Laxus would shock him over.

“I’m sure the parents are very worried about Dragonfly.” Evergreen said, she had picked up on Laxus’ nickname.

“I think you all are getting a little too attached.” Bickslow pointed out.

“Maybe you’re just heartless.” Freed said in return.

“One more day then we’ll call it quits. Maybe one of the cats at the guild will know how to find them.” Laxus compromised, stopping the fight before it could start.

They all got ready for bed after that. Laxus slept with Dragonfly like he always did. He held the egg close to him as he slept close to the small fire to keep it warm. In the morning the egg was gone. Laxus woke instead to a small orange kitten sleeping curled up on his chest.

“What the hell!” He shouted, waking everyone else up. The little kitten started crying at the sudden loud noise and he immediately tried to calm it down. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell.”

Laxus could feel some connection to the cat that was now sitting in his lap and sniffing back tears. _Kin_ His inner dragon was purring again. It had apparently already claimed the Exceed as family.

“Did the egg hatch?” Freed asked as he looked at the baby Exceed.

“Awe you are just the cutest!” Evergreen squealed.

 “What are we going to do now, boss?” Bickslow grumbled. He was about as much of a morning person as Laxus and did not appreciate being woken up in such a manner.

Laxus looked down at the little Exceed in his lap. He felt the pull to keep this child safe and he had a feeling that, now that Dragonfly had hatched, he wasn’t going to be able to let them go. The little kitten was looking up at him with big green eyes, seeming to ask the same question as Bickslow. _What now?_

“I guess we head home. Can’t be wondering around the forest with a newborn, can we.” Laxus decided much to everyone’s relief. They were all ready to go home. Even Dragonfly seemed to like this idea as they snuggled into Laxus’ chest.

It only took a two days to get home, one day to get back to civilization, and another to take the train to Magnolia. During that time Laxus learned that Dragonfly, the name had stuck, wasn’t able to talk yet. It wasn’t much of a surprise seeing she, yes Dragonfly was a girl, was only a newborn. She could also summon her wings but didn’t have any real control over her magic so she couldn’t do more than hover a few inches off the ground. She was also very attached to Laxus and would become upset if he left her for any reason. This made the trip back to Magnolia a long one for Laxus and he was happy when they finally made it back to the guildhall and he could, hopefully, pass the child off onto Panther Lily.

Laxus went looking for the Exceed first thing on getting back into town. His team had, thankfully, decided not to go back to the guild with him and each had gone to their own homes for much needed rest. Dragonfly was currently sleeping on his shoulder, under his coat. It was a favorite place for her to sleep.

“Oh, welcome back Laxus.” Mira greeted him when he came in. “I received notice that you finished your job last week. What took you so long to get back.”

“Some things came up.” He looked around the guild until he spotted Gajeel and Panther Lily sitting at a back table with a pile of books on it. He could only assume somewhere behind that pile was Levy. “I’ll catch up with you later, Mira.” He said, clearly distracted as he headed over to the table.

“About time ya got back.” Gajeel said in way of greeting. Laxus ignored him and sat next to Lily, being careful of the child balanced on his shoulder as he moved.

“Do you know how to get in touch with the other Exceeds?” He asked.

Lily looked surprised at the request. “I may be able too. Why do you wish to contact them.”

“What am I invisible or something?” Gajeel asked. They both ignored him.

Laxus lifted up his coat to show Lily the small orange Exceed sleeping there. “We found her as an egg on the last job. Spent a week wondering around looking for her parents before she hatched and we gave up.”

“You were with her when she hatched?” Lily asked. He had moved closer to get a better look at Dragonfly but when he got within reach of her Laxus growled at him in warning.

“Yeah, hatched in my arms while we were sleeping.” He covered her back up, his instincts telling him to protect her from any threat even though he knew Lily wouldn’t harm her.

“Then she has probably imprinted on you. Newly born Exceeds imprint on the first person they see. This is normally the parents.” Lily started to explain.

Laxus groaned. “Not more magic bonds.”

“It’s not magic, just biological. She will feel safest with you for the first several months. The truth is, if you found her alone before she hatched then her parents are most likely already dead.” Lily explained everything in a very matter-of-fact voice.

Gajeel gave his signature laugh from the end of the table. “Gihi looks like you got yourself a cat now too.”

Laxus groaned. Just what he needed, a living thing to have to take care of. He was no where ready to be a father figure to anyone. Dragonfly stretched out on his shoulder and nuzzled his neck. It warmed him and made his dragon sigh contently. Dragonfly had a way of making his inner dragon calm, similar to when Wendy was around. He guessed if she needed him then he would take care of her, for a little while anyhow. It seemed like his dragon needed her too.


	19. Meet the Parents

Cana waited until the rest of Fairy Tail had already left Crocus and headed home before she packed up and headed out herself. Getting away from the city and the memories there felt freeing to her. While she intended to meet up with Gildarts eventually she took a few days to herself. She didn’t have a plan on where to go, she was simply wondering. She ended up finding a nice place to make a camp in the middle of one of the many forests in Fiore. She was beside a lake with plenty of fish for food and water. It had been a long time since she had to camp in the wild but she still remembered the basic skills needed to make a shelter and fire.  
She spent two nights in her makeshift camp and things were not going how she had planned. She wasn’t able to drive Laxus or Bacchus from her mind. She felt like a piece of her was missing ever since the Eclipse Gate; a piece that Laxus had. Whenever she had these thoughts she would instantly start to feel guilty about Bacchus. They hadn’t left things in a very good place and she wasn’t even sure what they were anymore. She figured they had been dating, it was the best way to describe the last two weeks, but after their last night together she wasn’t sure if they still were. To add to her problems, she had given herself a mild case of food poisoning the first night and had been dealing with almost constant nausea since.   
It was the third night she was spending in her camp when she finally decided to call Gildarts. She was laying on the ground, using her bag of belongings as a pillow, just staring at her ‘Call Gildarts’ card for over an hour before she finally got the nerve to activate it. It was late into the night and Cana was partly hoping he wouldn’t answer. She wanted fatherly advice but she had never asked for something like this before and she honestly wasn’t sure Gildarts was the best person to ask.  
“Cana? You actually called? Is something wrong?” Gildarts voice came though the card she was holding. He sounded concerned and tired.  
“No, nothing’s wrong. I just …. I wanted to talk.” Cana felt silly but it also made her feel loved that he had answered.   
“Yeah …. What do you want to talk about?”  
“I … umm …” Now that she was faced with it she couldn’t think of how to start the conversation. “Actually, could we meet up?”  
“What’s wrong, Cana?” Gildarts sounded even more concerned now, he also sounded more awake.  
“Nothing’s wrong. I just want to see you, dad.” Cana tried to keep her voice natural but her throat was tight. She cursed herself for getting emotional about this. She was scared to tell her father about what was going on because she didn’t want to disappoint him. It was silly that his opinion mattered so much to her seeing he had been absent most of her life, but he was still her father.  
“Where are you, baby?” Cana had only called him ‘dad’ once since she had told him the truth. He knew something must really be wrong for her to use it now.  
“Somewhere outside of Crocus. I’m not really sure. I’m heading to visit Quatro Cerberus in a few days. Do you think you could meet me there?” Cana knew he would like Bacchus and it was a fair distance away from Magnolia and Laxus so Gildarts might not go after him.  
“Anything for you.” There was a long moment of silence as neither of them knew what to say. “Are you sure you’re alright?”  
“Yeah, I’m good.” Her words sounded empty, even to her. “Good night, I’ll see you in a few days.” She didn’t wait for him to answer before she cut off the magic to the card.  
Cana broke down her camp in the morning and started heading for her rendezvous. It was slow going as she fought with the residual effect from her food poisoning. Her body felt tried and heavy and her stomach was still giving her problems on occasion but she managed to make it to Quarto Cerberus in time. The guildhall was huge and reminded her of dog house. She felt like this was appropriate given their name and habit of wearing dog collars. The inside was set up much like Fairy Tail’s guildhall with a huge bar and lots of noise. The biggest difference was the majority of this guild was made up of men. Cana didn’t spot a single girl anywhere.  
“Hey Cana!” Rocker, Semmens and Nobarly called from where they were sitting by the bar. “Ready to get Wild!”  
Cana laughed at the boy, most everyone had turned their attention to her at their shouts. “Only if your buying!” She called back as she made her way over to them. She didn’t see Bacchus anywhere but was sure he would show up eventually.  
Cana had worn her jacket today to cover up her scaring, not wanting Gildarts to ask questions. She had assumed it would have been fairly well known in the guild that she was there for Bacchus but she had quite a few of the guys come up and start hitting on her. They had all seen her during the games and were impressed by her strength. She was in the middle of drinking Rocker under the table when Bacchus came up and put his arm around her.  
“Ya ain’t trying to get my girl drunk, are ya?” He asked to group at large. A few of the guys that had been flirting with her a second ago seemed to fade away into the crowd.   
“Like these light weights could manage that.” Cana smiled at him. She was hardly feeling the effects of her drinks while Rocker was already well past drunk.  
Bacchus kissed her on the temple and whispered into her ear, “How are ya feeling?”  
She shrugged. It felt like a loaded question and so she didn’t answer it. “I should give you a heads up, I’m meeting someone here today.”  
“Who?” Bacchus asked but before he could answer there were shouts from the front of the guild hall.  
“Now things are going to get Wild!” People were saying. Bacchus was surprised when Cana quickly shoved him away from her. Before he could question it, Gildarts made his way through the crowd and over to where they were at the bar.  
“Gildarts! Man haven’t seen ya in half a lifetime!” Bacchus pulled the older man into a hug, patting his back quickly before letting go.  
“Bacchus, you’re not getting into a drinking contest with my little girl, are you?” Gildarts asked before forcing Cana into a hug as she tried to push him off her.  
“Cana’s ya daughter?!” Bacchus looked between the two Fairy Tail wizards in shock. He knew the other wizards in her guild kept making comments about how strong her father was but they had all neglected to actually use his name. He had slept with Gildarts daughter, how was her going to get out of this alive? “Now I regret that drinking contest.”  
“Only the contest?” Cana couldn’t help teasing him, giving him a knowing look. “I mean, you did say some horrible things during the game. I mean that match with Elfman …” She trailed off, breaking into laughter at the horrified look on Bacchus’ face.  
“Ya can’t hold that against me. I mean, it was a complement if ya think about it.” Bacchus tried to defend himself.  
“Oh, you want to tell me what happened?” Gildarts asked. He had missed most of the games, the only part he had seen was then Cana had competed in the MPF competition.   
“I never did get my top back, by the way.” Cana commented.  
“I won that fair and square!” Bacchus said in a knee jerk reaction. “Ya got to out drink me to win it back.” Bacchus suddenly went pale as his words sank in.  
Gildarts started laughing. He had known Bacchus since he was a teenager, and even as a teenager he could drink with the best of them. Bacchus had always been a good guy and he like the fact Cana had clearly made some friends during the games. Bacchus physically relaxed with Gildarts laughter.  
“I’m surprised you two know each other.” Cana said, her hand snuck around to grab Bacchus’ gourd, taking it from him.  
“This guy uses to drink me under the table on my younger years.” Bacchus admitted, freely handing over the gourd. “I made some changed for ya, little flavor added.”  
“About time, I was getting sick of that old crap.” She uncorked the gourd and took a big swig. It tasted of cinnamon and strawberries. It was a nice balance with the burn from the high proof liquor. It tasted really good and Cana ended up drinking more than she normally would at one time.  
“I won’t suggest that.” Gildarts tried to warn her but it was too late. The moment the liquid hit her stomach it tied itself into a knot. Her arms went around her stomach as she doubled over.  
“Shit, Cana?” Bacchus grabbed the gourd and placed it on the bar, it was now a third empty, before he put an arm around her and helped her up. He helped her to the bathroom, getting there just before her stomach fully rejected the liquor. “Ya over did it a little.”   
“I might have been a little nervous.” She admitted, washing her mouth out at the sink. This was the first time she ever got sick from drinking and she was more than a little embarrassed. “I’m blaming that and the food poisoning I’m still not over.”  
“What do ya have to be nervous about?” Bacchus leaned against the wall and let Cana gather herself together. She wasn’t the first person to get sick in this bar, she wouldn’t be the last.  
“It’s not every day I introduce my father to my … boyfriend?” Cana didn’t mean for it to sound like a question. She couldn’t look at him as she said the words either.  
“Am I your boyfriend?” He asked. He called her his girl earlier but that was mostly to keep the other guys in the guild away from her. They were a wild bunch and he had been trying to get her some space from them.  
“I don’t know.” Cana answer honestly. “I like you, it’s just …”  
“Laxus, I know.” He wasn’t upset over this, just worried. “It’s okay. We’ve only known each other for three weeks.”  
“You’re damn near perfect.” Cana hated how tight her throat was feeling and the fact her eyes stung. She was frustrated with herself and with how emotional she had been lately. “You’re hot, treat me well, you actually like all my scars and don’t care about my fucked-up past. Even Gildarts likes you. Why can’t I be happy with that?”  
Bacchus pulled her into his arms as she started to cry. “That’s the thing with emotions, the rarely make sense.”  
Cana pulled away as she started to calm down. “I’m okay now.”  
“Are ya sure?” Bacchus tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I’ve never seen ya get sick like that. Ya haven’t even drink that much.”  
“I’m fine. I’ve been dealing with this stomach thing all week.” She told him, rubbing her belly, she still felt like she was full of knots. “Between that and all this emotional crap I’m dealing with I guess I just have to be more careful.”  
Bacchus was looking at her with round eyes. He kept looking from her face to her stomach and back again. “Ya don’t think …”  
“What?” Cana looked at him, confused.  
“Ya don’t think ya are …” He waved a hand in the general direction of her stomach.  
Cana’s jaw dropped as she understood what he was getting at. “No. I couldn’t … I mean … it’s too soon … I couldn’t be …”  
“But what if ya are?” Bacchus was terrified and hopeful. He was getting up there in years for a guild wizard and he had been thinking about starting a family. It had been part of the reason he had dated Cana instead of just hooking up. Sure, they had just been talking about how things between them wasn’t working but if they had a kid, that could change things someday.   
Cana tried to think of when her last period was. Everything since they had returned from Tenrou Island was such a blur. So much had been happening in her life since she came back she couldn’t remember how long it had been. She was starting to hyperventilate. “I can’t … I can’t be … I just can’t” she repeated over and over.  
There was a knock on the door that caused both of them to jump. “Everything alright?” Rockers voice came through the door.  
Bacchus opened the door, standing so Cana was hidden from view. “I need ya to get a healer for me. I’m going to take Cana upstairs to lay down.”  
“I knew ya would kill somebody with that stuff one day.” Rocker chuckled. “Wait till the guys hear.”  
“Ya say anything, and I’m going to have a talk with the Master about ya taste in women.” Bacchus threatened.  
After Rocker left, Bacchus lead Cana up to the second level of the guildhall. This area was more comfortable then the downstairs. There were overstuffed chairs and couches littered around. It was also much quieter up here than it was below. There were bookshelves and table located around the room as well. This looked to be a place that people would research and work on their jobs in peace. Cana was still panicking over the idea she might be pregnant again. She sat on one of the couches and pulled her knees up to her chest, trying to calm down. Bacchus sat beside her and put his arms around her.  
Gildarts came up and found them before Rocker returned. Cana had calmed down by then and was leaning into Bacchus’ chest and he rubbed her back to help keep her relaxed. “Oh, is this what you wanted to talk about?” Gildarts asked when he saw them.  
Cana stiffened when she heard his voice and moved away from Bacchus, shaking her head. “No, I don’t care what you think about my personal life.” Her voice sounded stronger than she felt. “I wanted to talk to you about mom.”  
Gildarts sat down in a chair across from them. He gave Bacchus a looked that said they were going to be discussing this later before he turned back to Cana. “What about her?”  
“You told me she was the only women you ever loved. Was that the truth or were you just lying to make me feel better?” Cana was looking at her hands that sat in her lap.  
“I loved Cornelia with all my heart, that’s the truth.” Gildarts could feel how serious this was to Cana. “Why do you ask?”  
“Did you ever … stop loving her? Did you ever think you could love someone else?” Cana was amazed at how detached she sounded. “All those other women you’ve been with, did you ever think maybe you could be happy with one of them?”  
“No. I still love Cornelia and I wouldn’t be happy with anyone else. When you find a love like we had, it’s unique, something you will never be able to find again. I ruined things with your mother. I hope that if you find love like that you are able to hold on to it.” Gildarts reached out and placed his hand over one of Cana’s in her lap.  
Cana was shaking slightly as she fought back tears. What her father said was so sweet but it wasn’t what she wanted to hear. She wanted him to tell her that she would be able to move on and forget the love she felt. She didn’t have much time to figure things out before Rocker appeared with a healer following him.  
“What seems to be the problem?” The healer asked, looking at the group. “This young man said a woman was gravely ill.”   
Cana took a steading breath before looking up. “It’s me, he might have over exaggerated a little bit.”  
The healer came over and sat on the opposite side of her from Bacchus. “What seems to be the problem?” He sounded a little annoyed at being dragged out here.  
Cana leaned in so she could whisper and not be overheard. “Could you tell me if I’m pregnant?”  
The man sighed. “You know you can buy potions for this, right?”  
Cana blushed, she did know that but she wasn’t really thinking when Bacchus had sent for the healer. “Are you going to help or not?” She snapped out of embarrassment.  
The man dug around in his bag and pulled out a small potion bottle. It was clear with a clear liquid inside. “I need your finger.” He instructed and poked Cana’s finger when she offered it. He let a few drops fall into the potion before he took it and mixed it. The liquid inside had turned red from her blood and now was turning a light violet color. Cana felt her stomach drop for the hundredth time that day. She knew what that color meant.  
“Congratulations based on the color I would say about six weeks.” The healer said. “If there isn’t anything else …”  
Cana’s head snapped up from where she was staring at the potion. “Six weeks? That isn’t possible.” She had only been with Bacchus for three weeks and her and Laxus hadn’t had sex since getting back from Tenrou Island months ago.  
“I can assure you that it is. You are anywhere from five to eight weeks.” He packed up his bag. “I’ll be going now.”  
Cana was too stunned to say anything. She couldn’t look away from the potion bottle left on the table. Bacchus and Gildarts were both staring at it as well.  
“Six weeks … no, five, five weeks would make since. You don’t count the first week or two …” Cana was talking to herself, trying to make sense of everything happening.  
“What did you do it my baby girl!” Gildarts suddenly exploded at Bacchus, causing both him and Cana to jump.  
“I did not know she was your daughter.” Bacchus started to explain. He had gotten up and was now standing between Gildarts and Cana in a protective stance. The sudden outburst had scared Cana and made her mind jump right to a pissed off Laxus. Cana let out an involuntary scream and covered her face.   
“Fuck!” Bacchus turned around and pulled Cana into his arms. She tried fighting against him at first but he carefully calmed her down. “It’s just me. I won’t hurt ya. Your safe.” He kept repeating this in a soft voice until she stopped fighting him.  
“Cana? What’s wrong?” Gildarts had calmed down, now he was just worried about his daughter.  
Cana shook her head where is was hidden in Bacchus’ chest. She couldn’t look at Gildarts right then. “She’s got some nightmares in her past. I’m sure you can understand that.” Bacchus answered for her.  
“I can’t go back to Fairy Tail.” Cana said quietly to herself. “If he finds out who knows what will happen.”  
“Nothing is going to happen to ya.” Bacchus tried to sooth her.  
“You weren’t there last time. You didn’t see what he did.” It seemed like everything was hitting Cana at the same time. She was starting to feel overwhelmed by it all. “I can’t risk being around him.”  
“Can I ask who ‘he’ is?” Gildarts cut in. Both Bacchus and Cana looked at each other but neither said anything. “Can I ask what he did?”  
“I need you to make me a promise.” Cana said. She was forcing herself to appear calm for Gildarts. “A promise from a member of Fairy Tail. A promise that can’t be broken. I want you to promise me you won’t hurt another member of Fairy Tail.”  
“I promise.” Gildarts swore easily.  
“And I want you to promise you won’t tell Master about anything we tell you. You won’t hint at it or write it down or in any other way allow him to learn about any of this.” Cana added. She had learned from Lucy how to cover up holes in contracts like this.  
Gildarts was more reluctant to agree this time but his curiosity and worry won out. “I promise.”  
“Laxus.” She said simply.  
“Laxus?” Gildarts was confused. “You’re worried about what Laxus is going to think? Why would he care?”  
“Maybe because I’m his mate and we are bounded for life thanks to some ancient Dragon-Slayer magic and he is head-over-heels in love with me even though he hurts me any time I do anything that upsets him and the last time I was pregnant he tried to have me and the rest of Magnolia killed and caused me to miscarry and now I have no idea what he is going to do but he has been getting more violent and a part of me feel he might actually kill me if I go home pregnant with Bacchus’ child.” Cana said it all in one breath, speaking as fast as she could to get it all out before Gildarts could react.  
It took a full minute for Gildarts to process everything Cana had just thrown at him. First the fact that Cana had been in a relationship with Laxus. Then that she had lost a child, apparently because of his actions. Then, apparently, Laxus had been abusing her to the point she thought he might try to kill her. Once this all sank in his rage bubbled up. He slammed his hand down on the table which exploded along with part of the floor below it. This cause Cana to scream and panic again. This time it was images of the baby dragons that were haunting her.  
“Ya need to control your temper around her.” Bacchus hissed at Gildarts while he tried to calm Cana down again. This amount of stress couldn’t be good for the baby. She calmed down a little easier this time but she was exhausted now.  
“I can’t do this right now.” She told Bacchus. “Do you have somewhere I can lay down?”  
“Yeah, not a problem. We have a few bedrooms upstairs for when the other guild masters visit. I’ll take ya.” Bacchus took her up to a third floor and to the room Makarov used when he visited. There was the Fairy Tail emblem on the door and a banner hanging in the room. It only consisted of a bed and small attached bathroom. There was a communication lacrima on the bedside table. It was a small room but it served its purpose. Bacchus got her tucked into bed and within seconds she was fast asleep. After he went back to sort things out with Gildarts.  
“How much do you know?” The older man asked.  
“More than ya want to. She was with Laxus for a number of years. It sounds like things turned bad around that Fantasia incident right before ya all disappeared. Things came to a head shortly after ya all showed back up and they ended things. He’s been a bit of a powder keg ever since. Even during the games, he wasn’t what ya would call stable.” Bacchus tried to explain to him. He figured that gave enough information without going into too much detail.  
“Why won’t she tell the master? Or let me hurt him.” Gildarts was thankful of his years of discipline. Most people might not realize how much he controlled himself. His magic was volatile and if he hadn’t learned early on how to control his anger he would have killed a lot of people. He still had his outbursts every now and then, he was human after all, but he could rein his temper in quickly.  
“Because she is head-over-heels in love with him too.” Bacchus said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Sucks too cause she is wild.”  
Gildarts had the urge to run away like he always did when things got to real or too serious for him, but he couldn’t. Cana was his daughter and she had reached out and asked for his help. He didn’t know just how complicated things were going to be at the time, but he was here now. “I guess I should get a room somewhere. Seems like we are going to be here a while.”  
The next few weeks ended up being very interesting. Goldmine contacted Makarov and told him that Cana was going to be staying at their guild for a while and that she could be reached there if they needed her. The news about Cana’s pregnancy spread around the guild quickly and made things a little awkward seeing how her and Bacchus had settled into being just friends. Cana stayed in the Fairy Tail room at the guildhall and spent most of her time there with the guys. She seemed to be constantly sick and she ended up napping a lot. She wasn’t sure if it was the pregnancy that was making her tired or the nightmares.  
Almost every night she would dream about the dragon horde. It was making her anxious and had her constantly on edge. More than once she had a panic attack when a fight broke out in the guildhall. Bacchus was normally able to calm her down after but she was always left feeling embarrassed. She was trying to work on coping with her anxiety and memories but it was difficult. She was starting to identify triggers and that was helpful.  
Gildarts stuck around for the first week. He learned more about the complexities of Dragon-Slayer relationships and came to terms with the fact two of his friends had slept with his daughter and she was currently knocked up by one of them. Staying in one place wasn’t his style though and once Cana seemed to be settled in he hit the road. He said good bye face to face this time and told her to contact him if she needed anything. He also made her promise to let him know when the baby was born, he didn’t want to miss the birth of his first grandchild.  
Cana was there for three weeks before she heard from anyone in Fairy Tail. She was getting ready for bed one night when her communication lacrima started flashing, notifying her of a call. She activated it and was greeted by Mira’s smiling face.  
“Hey, Cana, are you having fun with your boyfriend?” Mira said in way of greeting. She had a mischievous smile on her face.  
“Hey, Mira, what do I owe this pleasure?” Cana had a feeling that Mira was up to something.  
“I just wanted to check in and see how you were. We all miss you here. I was hoping you might come home soon.” Mira had a sad look on her face.  
Cana felt her stomach drop at the mention of returning to Fairy Tail. Thoughts of Laxus were sometimes one of her triggers. She felt the blood drain from her face and she had to sit on the bed. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breathes to focus herself.   
“Cana? Are you okay?” Mira asked, having seen her friend go pale. “You are going to come back, right?”  
“I … Yeah, I’m going to come back soon.” Cana forced a smile on her face. She had been talking with Bacchus about going back to Fairy Tail for at least a visit. She would decide then if she was going to leave for good or not. “Bacchus is out on a job right now, but when he gets back in a few days we were going to visit.”  
“Visit?” Mira quickly picked up on that word. “Are you going to leave Fairy Tail?”   
“I …” Cana didn’t want to admit that she was thinking about it, not to Mira. She would have everyone in the guild trying to talk her out of it the second she set foot in Magnolia. “Of course not. Fairy Tail is my home, nothings is going to change that.”  
“Good!” Mira was smiling again. “So, things must be going well with Bacchus then, huh?”   
Cana could tell Mira was fishing for information and this was yet another conversation she didn’t want to have. “Yeah, you could say that. Look, Mira I was just getting ready for bed. I’ll see you in a few days.”  
Mira took the not subtle hint and nodded. “Yeah, see you soon!”


End file.
